Contact:
Andreana “Addy” Drencheva
Social Media Coordinator
Jigsaw, LLC
206-353-152
July 15, 2010 – MILWAUKEE – Jigsaw, a Milwaukee-based communication firm, and Adobe’s Experience Design team combined efforts to give hope to cancer patients and their families with an interactive wall, a minisite and a traveling exhibit for St. Vincent Regional Cancer Center at St. Mary’s Hospital.
The three-stage project started in January with an Open House event, where over 7,000 guests engaged with a 45′ x 7′ rear-projected interactive wall. Approaching the wall, visitors could see hundreds of hand written messages drifting around the changing color field. Guests could use a stylus to write a message of hope on a kiosk, which captured the handwriting as stored data that was then rewritten on the wall. The effect was that of a living, breathing memorial. Messages like “Hope is the smile on a child’s face,” and “Hope is another year with my mom” created an emotionally moving experience.
“The idea behind the project was to create a community to fight cancer together online and offline,” Jennifer Kuhn, an art director at Jigsaw who worked on the project, said. “We didn’t want to focus on technology, but to utilize technology to create an emotional and environmental experience that unites everyone whose life has been changed by cancer.”
“Hope is the only thing you have left when a loved one is diagnosed with cancer,” 89-year old Elizabeth Donovan said. She lost her husband and one of her children in the fight against cancer and has another child living with cancer. “Standing there reading very personal thoughts was very emotional, but to actually write a message and to see it appear in your own handwriting on this giant canvas, that was overwhelming.”
“It was a great reminder that behind all the computers and all the software are these amazing human beings, each with their own message,” Marc Dennert, a senior experience developer with Adobe XD, said.
The messages submitted during the event are displayed in their original handwriting on an experiential minisitewhich was launched last week. The “Hope Is___” site invites people to share their message of hope with the community and read other inspirational messages that individuals have submitted during the event or directly on the website.
The project will soon be finalized with a traveling mini version of the interactive wall. The travel exhibit will be seen at cancer walks, cancer screening in schools and other cancer-related events in Northeastern Wisconsin. All messages entered during the exhibit will be saved on a server and automatically be fed to the minisite.
“Hope means different things to different people and we wanted to give them an opportunity to share their messages of hope,” Miguel Jasniewski, an interactive director at Jigsaw, said. “Partnering with Adobe’s Experience Design team helped us with the execution of the project and allowed us to bring this great idea to life.”
“Working with an internationally-known company was an amazing experience and we are glad we had the opportunity to collaborate with Adobe XD for this project, especially because it brings so much value to the community.” Kuhn said.
Jigsaw is a full service marketing communication firm whose unique business model allows them to fully integrate resources relevant to each of their clients. Jigsaw’s expertise includes strategic planning, business development, creative, media, promotions, social media and public relations. For more information, visit http://www.jigsawllc.com.
