Communication: Make Contact

A handprint is an ancient and timeless form of human communication. Early humans brushed their palms with minerals and pressed their hands against cave walls to leave their mark. Now, you can do the same thing at Liberty Science Center -- with a very modern twist. Leave behind your digital handprint as a personal signature and record of your visit. You'll find that we all have at least one thing in common with humans from tens of thousands of years ago: the desire to communicate.

Image: See the venue design

Video: Project Manager and Exhibit Developer Denise Bressler describes the handprint wall in this YouTube clip:

 

Your Challenge

Through Exhibit Commons, you can change how this exhibit works. Submit your own design to be used as the background image behind the handprint, or change the way a handprint is displayed when visitors touch the screen.

Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Download the handprint emulator. Download this zip file. Install the program on your computer by following the instructions contained within the file. Interact with the simulated version of the real museum experience. Note that you will need a fairly recent graphics card for the program to work properly.
  2. Design new images. Now that you know what the real experience looks like, think about a new background image or an image to replace the handprint. Design interesting new images using your own software. You can also design the brush image that sprays the paint around your hand. Because the brush is partially transparent, you will need to save the brush image with an alpha (transparency) channel.
  3. Try out your new images. Save your background image as background.jpg. Save your new handprint image as hand.jpg. The brush image must have an alpha (transparency) channel, so save your brush image with an alpha channel as brush.png (the png image format supports the additional channel, but the jpg format does not). In the program, you can load the images using the File menu to see the changes immediately.
  4. Send us your submission. Fill out the submission form and send us your entry by clicking on the "submit" button below. You can also send it by mail or e-mail. Here's how. If you have further questions, please refer to the instructions that are enclosed with the zip file.