With the help of an enchanted mirror, and a bit of technology, we transfigured kids and adults into LEGO Hogwarts student minifigures at the Harry Potter: Magic at Play experience in Chicago.
Aspiring witches and wizards were able to step up to a lectern to customize their LEGO minifigure by selecting their Hogwarts house colors, hair, facial expression, and wand as well as choose an iconic themed backdrop such as the library or potions classroom. They were then summoned to the LEGO Mirror of Erised where they saw themselves reflected as their minifigure and could cast spells, including wingardium leviosa and immobulus, to trigger animated magical effects.
Over the course of 10 months the LEGO Mirror of Erised helped 71,000 guests to discover the magic within themselves and showed how LEGO enables you to not just relive Harry Potter’s adventures but also create your own.
Agency:
XD Agency
Role:
Creative Director, Concept Development, Experience Flow, Layout, Scenic & Environmental Design, 3D Modeling & Renders, Graphic Design
One of the reasons why the Wizarding World has endured is because it represents a story world that fans want to be a part of, to experience, to live in, and to create their own magical stories within. Drawing on this insight I looked to the Harry Potter mythology for a magical object that would allow guests to see themselves in that world. The Mirror of Erised shows the viewers true heart's desire, and for most Harry Potter fans that means attending Hogwarts school of magic, the mirror became a way to reflect that desire back to them with an extra layer of LEGO magic. One of the challenges of this project was that the execution had to function without any dedicated staff or brand ambassadors onsite, the concept for the mirror allowed us to lean into a technological solution, using augmented reality, which could be entirely user led and controlled.
Due to the complex nature of the technology and interactions across various pieces of hardware I established the guest journey early on in the project. This helped to ensure that the entire team, including the clients, fabricators, and developers, had a clear understanding of how everything should work together to create a seamless magical experience.
With the clearly established mood boards, story world, and requirements for four stations, a product display, and a location that extended off of a wall the rough sketch for the space developed fairly quickly. Inspired by the gothic architecture of Hogwarts castle I created alcoves for each of the mirrors which allowed guests to have an individualized magical experience. The mirrors were powered by a linked system of hardware all of which was carefully integrated into the scenic design as iPads became enchanted books and the TVs & sensors were embedded into stylized mirror frames & faux stone walls. Over the course of the project the number of mirrors decreased from four to three which required rethinking the symmetrical layout but ultimately placed the product display in a more optimal position outside of the stanchioned experience space where more guests could access it.
Additional Work
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