For the Art Gallery of Ontario, I designed and produced 60 fully custom hardware units for a six-month interactive installation. Each unit featured bespoke circuit boards, plastic housings, charging systems, and visual design — all developed from the ground up to meet the project’s unique requirements. I was fortunate to have complete creative freedom over the hardware, allowing me to design every aspect to perfectly fit the needs of the project.

The device needed to be small and lightweight enough to fit into a lanyard, while remaining intuitive for gallery staff to operate without on-site technical support. When plugged into a computer, the device appears as an external hard drive, allowing staff to simply drag and drop a data file. Once uploaded to the backend, the data is automatically processed and the visitor receives a personalized email report summarizing their experience.

Throughout the gallery, hundreds of Bluetooth beacons were installed to track a visitor’s movement and heart rate as they explored different exhibits. The system identifies moments of heightened emotional response and incorporates that into the final report.

I led the hardware and enclosure design, while STUNNAR developed the backend infrastructure, and we partnered with WXM to bring the entire experience to life.

Art Rate is free to try for anyone visiting the AGO.