We’re thrilled to welcome Sherri to the Stimulant team. Sherri brings a world of experience and expertise in planning and managing digital installation projects on a wide variety of scales. If we’re lucky enough to be collaborating with you on a project, you’ll have the pleasure of hearing her jovial voice guiding you through our process and making it all sound easy. Welcome, Sherri!
How did you get started in this industry?
Via museums. I studied anthropology and exhibition design. As an anthropologist I’m endlessly fascinated by people, systems, how we connect and how we talk about those connections. I worked as a producer designing audio stories for museums and historical sites. I started working at a small interactive studio, which featured work primarily in museums and public spaces. It was a natural transition to produce meaningful experiences with teams of designers, engineers, writers and storytellers even though interactive, gesture driven technology was new to me at the time.
What project are you most proud of being involved with?
I was the EP on a large scale interactive wall designed for a brand new children’s oncology hospital in Delaware. The experience is a living interactive garden where children can grow plants, play with digital weather and control flying creatures just by moving their bodies. The emotional and therapeutic value is outstanding. It spans 50 feet (45 LCDs) and is Kinect-driven. I led this project from conception to installation and witnessed the joy and laughter of children (and their parents) who came to the hospital for cancer treatment; for a few moments they forget their sadness, stress and fear and became children again. Nothing on this scale, and level of interactivity, had been achieved in a hospital environment before.
What advice would you offer clients at the beginning of a new smart space project?
Don’t let the unknowns worry you, we’ve got this! Smart spaces combine multiple moving elements: software, prototyping, UX, design, content, hardware, and installation which all have specific demands and needs. We know how they fit together. We have your best interests in mind. We have extremely creative, talented and experienced people on our team. At the end of the day we want to go home knowing we helped make your world a better place. We also have a deep sense of humor and big picture perspective which is gets us through any unexpected twists.
What inspires you?
I’m inspired by the quest for that ah-ha moment of gleaming new insight; the moment when your experience transforms into a shared human connection. In my daily life, my daughter inspires me to be the best version of myself every day. Sometimes I fall short, but I’m human.
What is your secret superpower?
Transparency and trust.