This project began with an unusual request from a senior executive at Eli Lilly: create an electronic light-based display capable of explaining the complexities of pharmaceutical manufacturing to a non-technical audience. What started as a straightforward visualization quickly evolved into something closer to an interactive art installation — with an evolving brief, shifting expectations, and no clear precedent for how the story should be told.
As project manager and design lead, I translated loosely defined goals into a tangible system by coordinating electrical engineering support, external software development, and physical prototyping. The final installation was visually compelling and technically robust — if admittedly over-engineered — and served as a valuable lesson in navigating ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and shaping both the narrative and the solution in the absence of clear direction.
Because the concepts and direction were all of the place, we needed to use a set of parameters to funnel down the clients input
Really glad I had an awesome team of ME's and EE's to work with me on this one.
Clayton Krause (now at Trek) figured out how to take a CAD array and turn it into this light show...Don't ask me how.
While the process was documented well - the final result was not. We were not able to capture the 'cloud' fully operational in it's environment at Lilly (I 'm not sure they knew what it was or what to do with it when it arrived!)
