Lewis Latimer Interactives
Lewis Latimer House Museum
Capabilities
Focus Area
Client
Lewis Howard Latimer was the son of self-emancipated enslaved people, a self-taught draftsman, and major contributor to the invention of the lightbulb and the telephone. Some of his own inventions are the early air conditioning unit and the railroad car bathroom.
Growing up, Latimer faced many challenges due to racial discrimination prevalent at the time. He enlisted in the Union Navy in 1864 at the age of 16 and—with no access to formal education—taught himself mechanical drawing which eventually led him to become a chief draftsman, patent expert, and inventor.
The Lewis Latimer House Museum in Flushing, New York is the very same house that Latimer lived in from 1903 until his passing at the age of 80 in 1928. Threatened with demolition, the house was relocated from Holly Avenue in East Flushing to its present location in 1988. It is now a historic house museum owned by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, operated by the Lewis H. Latimer Fund, Inc., and is a member of the Historic House Trust.
We worked closely with Isometric, the lead exhibition designer, to produce four interactive exhibitions through a combination of digital and physical experiences that educate, entertain, and inspire—all rooted in Latimer’s legacy as an mold-breaking inventor of his time.
INVENTION MACHINE
Vertical screen displaying inventions Latimer patented, but never built. Oversized blueprints reimagined as 3D objects which brings the inventions to life.
TOGETHER WE RISE
An interactive “family portraits wall” of contributors and leaders integral to Latimer’s legacy. A bench in front of the projection wall holds a hand-crank allowing viewers to navigate to a particular profile by rotating and pressing a physical button.
POETRY MACHINE
A skeletal mechanical crank allowing visitors to rotate between panels of Latimer’s poetry. When cranked to the right position, the selected poetry plays audibly, allowing visitors to experience the poetry as an audio-visual sensory experience.
LATIMER BUZZ SELFIE APP
A selfie app that can be loaded directly on visitor’s smart phones using a QR code on the printed Latimer Buzz magazine. Through the app, everyone can take a fun selfie image as the cover of Latimer Buzz magazine, and actually print a physical sticker that can be affixed to the magazine as a keepsake item—a kid-friendly activity and souvenir from a memorable experience.
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
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John Kudos
Creative Director -
Robert de Saint Phalle
3D Creative Director -
Jess Mackta
Project Manager -
Jamus Marquette
Lead Designer -
Fay Qiu, Owen Febiandi
Designer -
Imam Fadillah
3D Designer -
Chris Manlapid, Arif Widipratomo, Faris Han
Software Developer -
Ed Bear
Engineer -
Levy Murphy
Fabricator -
Electrosonic
A/V Consultant
Isometric
- Lead Exhibition Design
Kinematic Pavilion
ARCH:ID JAKARTA
Capabilities
Focus Area
Client
Awards
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ARCH:ID Best Booth Awards Winner 2024
ARCH:ID is Indonesia’s most awaited annual architecture forum and trade event organized by Indonesian Institute of Architect (IAl) in collaboration with CIS Exhibition. This industry-focused event present a host of activities and programs that serves as effective platform for place-makers and stakeholders in architecture and built industry to congregate, collaborate, and connect.
Kinematic Pavilion is a kinetic installation that fosters a dynamic relationship between architecture and movement. Is it possible to create a transformable space that adapts to a range of community activities? Inspired by the camera aperture, our installation seamlessly shifts from an open to enclosed circular space, offering a 360-degree backdrop for immersive experiences.
People and performers are seen as living art, interacting with architecture and becoming part of the installation. A kinetic system enhances the backdrop by revealing warm light in the shape of elegant wipes and sparkles.
The collaboration also involves experimenting with a range of sustainable materials like patinated copper cladding, engineered wood veneer, and woven blinds fabric waste.
Kinematic Pavilion showcases a synergy of architectural creativity, sustainable practices, and technological integration, inviting communities to actively shape their environment.
On view 22-25 February 2024 in ICE BSD, Jakarta, Indonesia.
PROJECT TEAMS
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Helen Agustine Studio
Architectural Design -
RootsLab & BYO Living
Exhibition Installation -
KUDOS
Kinetic Panel System -
Estica
Rotating Dome System -
ErreLuce
Architectural Lighting -
The Ballet Academy & Grey Audio Lab
Performance
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
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John Kudos
Creative Director -
Calvin Hadiardja
Chief Producer -
Andy Kurniawan
Art Director -
Reza Risnaldi
3D Simulator -
Abraham Junior
Motion Technician -
Setiawan Gemawidjaja
Technical Lead -
Chauwen
Software Engineer -
Benny
Software Engineer -
Alvin Yonathan
Photographer
Black Power to Black People
Poster House
Capabilities
Focus Area
Client
Poster House’s “Black Power to Black People” exhibit was an intimate look at how the Black Panther Party harnessed the power of branding and media to control its own narrative, rally community support, and become one of the most influential militant groups of its time.
Our exhibition design began outside the gallery with two oversized protest signs leaning against the wall, amplified with hand-painted lettering reminiscent of protest signs from the Civil Rights era.
Bayard (typeface) evokes lettering from the 1960s Civil Rights protest signs. Condensed, bold and handmade…transporting viewers to that era.
Inside, the exhibit started with an iconic photograph of Huey Newton (1967) and followed the development of Black Panther branding through six chronological sections. In the background, tracks from Seize the Time LP by Elaine Brown played on a loop, capturing the aspirations of the Black Panther Party.
We used bold type, militaristic colors, striking icons, and heroic photographs of Black Panther members carrying exposed firearms to echo the powerfully moving design strategies used by the Black Panthers themselves—and to show how effective those strategies remain, even decades after the party’s rise to fame.
KASA Collective
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John Kudos
Creative Director -
Robert de Saint Phalle
3D Creative Director -
Ashley Wu
Art Director -
Fay Qiu
Designer -
Saskia Wulandiarti
Design Intern -
Imam Fadillah
3D Renderer -
Amanda Knott
Project Manager -
Samuel Sachs Morgan
Photographer
POSTER HOUSE
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Es-pranza Humphrey
Curators -
Angelina Lippert
Chief Curator & Director of Content -
Ola Baldych
Director of Design & Exhibits -
John F. Lynch
Associate Director of Exhibits -
Mihoshi Fukushima Clark
Assistant Director of Design -
Rob Leonardi
Fabricator
Made in Japan
Poster House
Capabilities
Focus Area
Client
“Made in Japan” was an immersive visual journey through Japan’s golden age of graphic design, told through posters. Curated works from the Merrill C. Berman Collection ran the gamut from century-old to recent design.
Our exhibition design for Poster House took inspiration from geometric shapes found in Nihon Buyö, a poster designed by Ikko Tanaka, a godfather figure in Japanese graphic design history. A triptych of oversized title walls unfurled like a Japanese folding fan to greet visitors at the entrance and create a permeable exhibit space to carry them seamlessly through the exhibit timeline.
We wanted an immersive motif to accentuate the posters and create a visual through-line for all the posters designed in the last century.
We chose color hues to serve as thematic backdrops for each section of the gallery. These vividly colorful shapes started small but quickly became larger as one progressed through the exhibit, finally becoming larger than the gallery walls.
Oversized typography—inspired by lettering found on the ships that brought Japanese immigrants to the American continent—infused the exhibit with a sense of industrialization and globalization, two forces that greatly influenced the evolution of graphic design in Japan.
KASA Collective
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John Kudos
Creative Director -
Robert de Saint Phalle
3D Creative Director -
Ashley Wu
Art Director -
Fay Qiu
Designer -
Imam Fadillah
3D Renderer -
Amanda Knott
Project Manager -
Samuel Sachs Morgan
Photographer
POSTER HOUSE
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Nozomi Naoi
Erin Schoneveld -
Angelina Lippert
Chief Curator & Director of Content -
Ola Baldych
Director of Design & Exhibits -
John F. Lynch
Associate Director of Exhibits -
Mihoshi Fukushima Clark
Assistant Director of Design -
Rob Leonardi
Fabricator
GII 100 Exhibition
GII Hok Im Tong
The church of Gereja Injili Indonesia (GII) Hok Im Tong in Indonesia celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2023. To commemorate the occasion, the church organized a three-week exhibition and tasked Kudos with creating the space—complete with branding, an information display and wayfinding system, and a full exhibition guide.
Our exhibition space was subdivided into three sections, representing the past, present, and future of the church. Visitors were invited to embark on a voyage through GII Hok Im Tong’s 100-year history and observe the unchanging nature of God’s grace through the ages. We presented key exhibition information on a 12-inch wall-mounted display illuminated by warm-white LED strips, which provided a thorough review of the church’s history, leaders, and activities along with a guide to the exhibition’s three sections. Ultimately, more than three thousand people visited the exhibition to take part in the church’s ongoing journey.
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
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Andy Kurniawan
Creative Director -
Owen Febiandi
Art Director -
Imam Fadilah
Designer -
Reza Risnaldi
Designer
Bahtera Associates
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Donny Kristianto
Architect -
Ryan Setiadi
Architect
Elway Studio
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Alvin Yonathan
Interior & Architecture Photographer
Poster House Interactive Exhibitions
Poster House
Capabilities
Focus Area
Client
Poster House (New York City) is the first museum in the U.S. to be dedicated exclusively to posters, presenting a global view of the medium from its earliest appearances in the late 1800s to present-day uses.
We were tasked to create four interactive exhibits (three digital exhibits and one children’s area) as permanent fixtures of the museum, to be seamlessly integrated into its newly built architecture. In acknowledgement of the poster medium’s journey from oversized ink-on-paper communications to its many contemporary forms—digital, animated, interactive, generative—we ensured that all of our interactive components offered a good mix of tactile, physical, and screen-based experiences.
PHOTO BOOTH
This green-screen photo booth, visible from the street and embedded into an alcove at the museum’s entrance, allows visitors to place themselves in iconic posters using a custom interface, and receive the final posters via email, text message, and print.
Since the museum’s opening 5 months ago, over 6,500 images have been texted, emailed, and printed through the highly visible photo booth.
The photo booth continues to be a big draw for passersby, with an average of 15 minutes per visitor engagement.
DIGITAL POSTER WALL
This oversized 4K screen displays a curated grid of larger-than-life posters from the collection, which are randomly enlarged periodically, or whenever a visitor presses a nearby button. Located adjacent to the ticketing counter, our digital poster wall provides a good preview of what to expect in the museum.
CHILDREN’S AREA
Our children’s area is a blast from the past, featuring 1960s New York City scenes. A coloring mural wall with magnetic posters, interactive vintage payphones by a newsstand, and layering stations explaining how posters are made engages an audience of all ages.
POSTER MACHINE
These tabletop interactive kiosks allow visitors to experience the poster-creation process. To design them, we deconstructed what goes through a designer’s brain to create a choose-your-own-adventure poster-design game, each step of which explains the significance and thought process behind the basic ingredients of any poster—symbols, colors, phrases, fonts, and design styles. There are three themes—Propaganda, Film, or Advertising—for which we created over 143,000 images to represent all the possible design paths one can take.
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
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John Kudos
Creative Director -
Ashley Wu
Designer -
Sumit Paul
Designer -
Whatever
Software Developer -
Darius Wang
Animator
Fragile Legacy
Corning Museum of Glass
Capabilities
Focus Area
For these exhibition graphics for “Fragile Legacy” at the Corning Museum of Glass, we collaborated with Selldorf Architects and the museum’s in-house team to ensure that all graphic and text panels followed the museum’s visual theme.
For the show’s exhibition of Blaschka marine invertebrate glass models, we combined Futura and Scala Sans typefaces to create a classic-modern underlying tone, starting with the oversized typography on the title wall. A “field guide” trifold brochure provided detailed information on displayed objects, eliminating the usual clutter of text labels.
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
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John Kudos
Creative Director
Selldorf Architects
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Lisa Green
Partner in charge
TDC62 Traveling Exhibition, Jakarta
Type Directors Club
Capabilities
Client
Awards
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HOW 2017 International Design Awards
The Type Directors Club in New York produced a traveling exhibition showcasing over 400 winners of its 2016 annual competition, which highlighted the best of the best in typographic work in both communication and typeface design from studios and individuals internationally. After visiting many cities in the U.S., France, Germany, Spain, China, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam, the exhibition traveled to Jakarta, Indonesia, where it was on view from August 12 to September 7, 2017, at the Indonesian Design Development Center (IDDC). Design and typography lectures were held at this venue during the exhibit. In partnership with the IDDC and Asosiasi Design Grafis Indonesia (ADGI), Kudos was tasked with developing design graphics for the traveling exhibition.
We designed 3D graphics for the exhibition by revolving T-D-C letterforms in sequential angles and floating them in space. These graphics were then applied to all aspects of marketing communications. For the exhibit space, we collaborated with APTA to design spiraling poster panels to be suspended in space.
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
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John Kudos
Creative Director -
Andy kurniawan
Art Director -
Ilham Muhamad Firdaus
Designer -
Fahmi Maulana Fajar
Designer
Type Directors Club
Between Four Freedoms
Four Freedoms Park Conservancy
Artist Shaun Leonardo’s 2021 outdoor installation “Between Four Freedoms” reinterpreted and celebrated Franklin D. Roosevelt’s seminal 1941 address calling for freedom of worship, freedom of speech, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. The interactive experience for the installation at Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park redefines public engagement with art and social discourse.
Guided by Leonardo’s vision, our branding mirrors the project’s ethos, employing a brown color scheme evocative of human skin tones and the “Martin” typeface, inspired by the Memphis Sanitation Strike of 1968, to represent a message of non-violence and inclusivity. Leveraging innovative technology such as image recognition, we enabled visitors to engage with the artwork by scanning QR codes, launching the mobile website, and exploring workshop videos led by Leonardo. With over 25,000 images collected, the installation ensured accessibility and interactivity on both the Manhattan and Long Island City sides, inviting visitors to delve into the narratives of vulnerable communities and rediscover Roosevelt’s timeless call for freedom and dignity.
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
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John Kudos
Creative Director -
Fay Qiu
Designer -
Christyan Junaedi Setiawan
Web Developer -
Imam Fadilah
Animator
Power of Science
The Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science
Capabilities
Focus Area
The “Power of Science” exhibition, now on view at the Frost Museum in Miami, Florida, invites visitors to explore how science pushes the boundaries of possibility as they learn about groundbreaking scientific research and discoveries. The exhibit is a playground for curious minds, filled with tangible and digital experiences spanning a 6,000-square-foot area.
We worked with Squint/Opera to develop user flows and UX/UI components for various gamified exhibits in the exhibit’s Environment section, including:
BUILD YOUR OWN COASTLINE
This activity engages up to three players in building natural and man-made infrastructures on shorelines to help against natural disasters.
HURRICANE HINDSIGHT
This dual-screen game explores how we measure the risk of hurricanes, and whether it’s safer to stay or evacuate—a topic of great importance in Florida.
PERIODIC TABLE
This two-player station allows in-depth study of the periodic elements, enabling the discovery of chemical reactions when the right elements are combined by both players.
RAMP ANIMATIONS
These animated narratives on transparent LEDs reveal related artifacts behind their glass display case.
The Power of Science is on view at Frost Museum of Science in Miami, Florida.
Exhibit Team
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Thinc Design
Lead Exhibition Design -
Squint/Opera
Lead Digital Media -
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
UX/UI Design -
Kubik Maltbie
Fabrication & Hardware
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
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John Kudos
Creative Director -
Sumit Paul
UX/UI Designer -
Ashley Wu
UX/UI Designer
VF Gallery Exhibition
VF Gallery
Capabilities
Focus Area
Client
This was an exhibition design for VF Corporation’s Investor Day, held exclusively for press and financial analysts. We helped And Partners design and construct storytelling platforms in two galleries that displayed the innovations and growth plans of VF Corporation—the Fortune 500 company behind familiar brands like Lee, The North Face, 7 For All Mankind, Vans, and Nautica.
INNOVATION GALLERY
To showcase VF’s innovative approach, we used everyday retail materials in unusual ways. Each exhibit was constructed out of thick cardboard juxtaposed with fluorescent plexiglass, astroturf, and pegboard. All components were designed to be lightweight and easy to disassemble for the Investor Day event, and the cluster of walls and pedestals could be easily rearranged to fit any space.
GROWTH GALLERY
We piled craft tubes and cubes to form walls and surfaces for staging VF Corporation’s various retail brands. To break up the gallery space, we hung oversized banners that created backdrop graphics for each story.
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
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John Kudos
Creative Director -
Karen Vanderbilt
Designer -
Brienne Jones
Designer
VF Gallery
ARITA: Eternally Modern at NY NOW
Made in Japan Project
Capabilities
Client
Awards
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GDUSA 2018 American Web Design
This was a collaboration with Made in Japan Project, funded by the Saga Prefectural Government. For the project, we completed the overall brand strategy, naming, exhibition design, art direction, website, and product design consultation for a government-led initiative promoting porcelain creators from Arita and their efforts to bring innovative Japanese design to the American market through NY NOW.
RESEARCH & CONSULTATION
Over the course of nine months, we visited Arita—the birthplace of porcelain in Japan—to consult with participating kilns and distributors over ideas for their product design, brand positioning, and marketing strategy for the U.S. market.
BRANDING
For the visual identity, we designed a lemniscate ∞ paired with the town’s name and the tagline “Eternally Modern,” pointing to how Arita creators continue to evolve four centuries of tradition, craftsmanship, and innovation into distinctively modern everyday products.
WEBSITE
Our responsive bilingual website was written for both Western and Japanese readers, with distinct messaging catered to each audience. We art-directed all of the website’s videos and photography, including a portrayal of key products falling in slow motion, close-ups in 360-degree rotation, documentary photos of Arita, and a video showing the porcelain-creation process.
EXHIBITION BOOTH
For the NY NOW market exhibition in February 2018, we designed a corner booth divided by a diagonal wall archway similar to those typically found in traditional porcelain kilns. Each creator had a museum-like stage and hidden storage underneath.
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
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John Kudos
Creative Director -
Kiki Katahira
Art Director -
Ashley Wu
Designer -
Sumit Paul
Web Designer & Developer -
Mika Yoshida & David Imber (Maniform)
Copywriter
MANIFORM
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David Imber
Copywriter -
Mika Yoshida
Copywriter
Photography
- Sam Morgan Photography
Revealing the Invisible
Corning Museum of Glass
Capabilities
Focus Area
For these exhibition graphics for “Revealing the Invisible” at the Corning Museum of Glass, we collaborated with Selldorf Architects and the museum’s in-house team to ensure that all graphic and text panels followed the museum’s visual theme.
We designed a circular graphic pattern, inspired by the microscope lens, to cover the title wall. Each circle contains a close-up detail of drawings depicting objects that were discovered through the microscope.
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
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John Kudos
Creative Director
Selldorf Architects
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Lisa Green
Partner in charge
Whiteness Project: Intersection of I at Storyscapes
Tribeca Film Festival
Capabilities
Focus Area
Client
Created in collaboration with filmmaker Whitney Dow, this second installment of the Whiteness Project took form as a week-long interactive installation at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. With a space designed by LOT-EK and audiovisuals by Arup, the Festival tasked Kudos with the project’s exhibition design.
In our resulting exhibition, audience members were photographed as they entered the space. Within seconds their skin tones were added to a color wheel arranged from dark to light, engaging them in questioning the perceived color of their skin and public perceptions of racial identity. The audience was then able to use a provided microphone to activate interviews by calling out the name of a person displayed on the grid.
Read full article on GDUSA.
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
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John Kudos
Creative Director -
Sumit Paul
Web Design & Development -
Chris Manlapid
Software Developer -
Whitney Dow
Filmmaker
Tribeca Film Festival
Americans Exhibition
National Museum of The American Indian
Capabilities
Focus Area
Client
Awards
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GDUSA 2018 American Graphic Design Awards
For the “Americans” exhibition at the National Museum of the American Indian, Kudos was tasked with the exhibition’s production design.
We showcased hundreds of graphics and artifacts representing American Indians from three centuries of American life, all gathered in six interconnected galleries in the southwest wing of the museum. Each gallery covered a familiar topic like Pocahontas, the Battle of Little Bighorn, Thanksgiving, and the Trail of Tears. We worked closely with Studio Joseph to ensure a clear typographic hierarchy and optimum production/installation methods for all graphic components across the various galleries and surfaces.
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
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John Kudos
Creative Director -
Ashley Wu
Designer
National Museum of the American Indian
Photography
- Thomas Loof
NYS Equal Rights Heritage Center Interactive Exhibition
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation
Capabilities
Focus Area
Client
Opened in November 2018, the New York State Equal Rights Heritage Center is part of a series of Regional Welcome Centers established by Governor Andrew Cuomo to support the state’s growing tourism industry. Just a mile from the newly designated Harriet Tubman National Historical Park and a short drive from Seneca Falls, the Center highlights statewide attractions related to the ongoing struggle for equal rights.
To serve the Center’s purpose as a launching pad for visitors to explore New York State, we developed four types of interactive iPad kiosks that allow visitors to browse highlights by geographic location, navigate social-justice milestones, and listen to songs and speeches. We worked collaboratively with MTWTF, who was commissioned by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation to develop the content strategy, design, and media for a permanent exhibition at the Center, “Seeing Equal Rights in New York State.”
Project Team
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MTWTF
Lead Exhibit Design -
KUDOS
Software Development
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
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Sumit Paul
Designer -
Sumit Paul
Software Developer
NYS Equal Rights Heritage Center
Colonists Citizens Constitutions Virtual Exhibition
Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation
Capabilities
Focus Area
Awards
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GDUSA 2020 American Web Design
The “Colonists Citizens Constitutions” exhibit, launched in February 2020 in collaboration with the Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation, spotlights 42 rare documents from the Foundation’s extensive collection of Americana, telling the story of how our state and federal constitutions were imagined, formulated, written, and approved by ordinary people. These individuals arrived in America as colonists then made themselves its first citizens, while codifying their philosophies of governance and human rights via the writing of constitutions.
We originally designed the show’s website to serve as a supplement to the in-person exhibition at the New-York Historical Society. However, due to museum closures caused by COVID-19, we ultimately published a virtual tour of the gallery instead, ensuring its documents remained accessible to the public.
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
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John Kudos
Creative Director -
Owen Febiandi
Designer -
Chris Manlapid
Web Developer
Colonists Citizens Constitutions
The Blossom Exhibition
Regency Fabric
Capabilities
Focus Area
Client
The Blossom was Regency Fabric’s exhibition at the International Furniture Expo (IFEX) in Jakarta in February 2023. It explored the theme of gardens and interior furnishings through the medium of textiles, transporting visitors to a lush, verdant world where the colors, textures, and patterns of Regency’s finest textiles were celebrated in a variety of forms.
KUDOS’s unconventional exhibition design served as a captivating draw for both existing patrons and prospective clients, sparking widespread interest among Expo visitors. A highlight of the exhibition was its incorporation of indoor and outdoor furniture pieces, all upholstered in unique, high-quality textiles. We created a simple design system of square fabric tiles that invited guests to explore and be inspired by the infinite possibilities of functionality and aesthetics.
KUDOS Design Collaboratory
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Andy Kurniawan
Creative Director -
Owen Febiandi
Creative Director -
Ilham Muhammad Firdaus
Designer -
Imam Fadilah
Designer -
Reza Risnaldi
Animator
