Exhibition Design for German-Vietnamese Cooperation
2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the Federal Republic of Germany. To mark the occasion, the German Embassy is hosting a three-day festival in Hanoi in October.
At the heart of the festival is an interactive exhibition installation showcasing the priorities and achievements of German-Vietnamese development cooperation. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) commissioned us to develop the installation as well as supporting elements such as stand-up displays for the festival.
For the longterm accessibility we set up a Microsite and host it for the client.
The Task
The ambition for this project was high from the very start. As the centrepiece of the festival, the installation was intended to show, through digital learning environments, how Vietnam and Germany work together, which topics matter in that cooperation, and everything that has been achieved. The digital component also had to be developed so that it could be repurposed for long-term secondary use as a microsite. To ensure the installation didn’t communicate only through digital means, various analogue elements and interactions were to be integrated.
Since the target audience at a public festival is very broad, it was important to convey the content in a way that was as low-threshold, engaging and entertaining as possible.
The installation had to be usable in both an English and a Vietnamese version.
The Core Idea
Following an intensive workshop with a focus group from Vietnam, we set to work and developed a core concept: a cube with four sides, one for each of the thematic areas (Forest, Energy, Vocational Education, Mekong Delta). Each thematic side features a large touchscreen monitor that delivers the digital content, along with an area for analogue interactions. In the upper section of the cube, an LED strip runs animations that draw attention even from a distance and draw people towards the cube.
Storytelling and Avatars
From the outset it was clear that we wanted to link the content to stories. For this, we developed a set of four avatars, one for each thematic side. The avatars are very different from one another: a dragon, a young woman, an energy ball and a pangolin.
Each of them guides visitors through their respective thematic side and connects their personal story with the topics of development cooperation.
Digital Learning Environments
Each digital learning environment consists of an interface graphic on which users can navigate freely and select information individually. Via clickable areas, they reach the sub-topics, each prepared with a varied media mix of videos, graphics and interactions.
Analogue Interactions
Each of the four thematic sides is designed with a thematically fitting look. And alongside the digital elements, each side also features analogue interactions, especially for the youngest visitors. On the Energy side, for example, visitors can turn the model of a wind turbine. This generates electricity, which makes the energy ball avatar light up.
On the Mekong Delta side, a model of the dragon avatar can be guided through a maze using a magnet.
Accompanying Elements
In addition to the main installation, we developed various stand-up displays as selfie spots, which — via the central hashtag #50VietDuc — play a key role in the communication accompanying the event.
