The Marilyn Horne Museum showcases highlights from the personal archive of legendary opera singer, Marilyn Horne. The museum features 19 interactive exhibits, a documentary film, costumes, musical scores, and artifacts from the personal collection of Marilyn Horne.

I was brought on board to design and animate an interactive for young people (and the young at heart) that allows visitors to stage your own digital opera and email your creation anywhere in the world.

It’s a hit with visitors:

Here you can see a young visitor to the Marilyn Horne Opera Center enjoying the Stage an Opera interactive. I used Adobe Character Animator to bring the cartoon opera singers and set pieces (including the dragon) to life.

Wireframing

The task was to create an interactive touchscreen experience that gave visitors to the Marilyn Horne Center for Opera the chance to have a fun, playful time "staging an opera."

Using Adobe Sketch for iPad and the Adobe's Experience Design program, I created the initial wireframes for the interactive. This experience would let people choose distinctive elements for their singers' costumes, the backdrops, and also a dramatic set piece.

Initial wireframe brainstorming for the interactive.

Visual Research

I spent a great deal of time gathering visual research for the backdrops, the character costumes, the set pieces, and even the interior design of major opera houses around the world.

Opera Houses:

Research from “Carmen”:

Research from “The Magic Flute”:

Research from “The Ring Cycle”

Set piece visual research:

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Czech-Marionettes-bull_brown_czech_marionettes_handcarved_4.b987.jpg

Creating the Elements for an Animated Opera

Next, I needed to create the elements users could choose for their opera: the different characters, costumes, scenery and props that users could choose for their animated opera.

"The Toreador"

Inspiration came from real operas, like Carmen.

"Papageno"

Inspiration came from real operas like The Magic Flute.

"Siegfried"

Inspiration came from real operas like The Ring Cycle.

"Carmen"

Inspiration came from real operas like Carmen.

"Papagena"

Inspiration came from real operas like The Magic Flute.

"Brünnhilde"

Inspiration came from real operas like The Ring Cycle.

Desert Backdrop

Settings were more fanciful. Although they were whole designed in Adobe Illustrator, I wanted them to look like cut paper.

Forest Backdrop

Some settings, like this forest, were inspired by operas like The Magic Flute. Although this was wholly created in Adobe Illustrator, I wanted it to look like cut paper.

Mountain Backdrop

This setting was inspired by The Ring Cycle. Although it was wholly created in Adobe Illustrator, I wanted it to look like cut paper.

The Dragon

The Bull

The UFO

Using Adobe Character Animator to bring the elements to life

After creating the characters, backdrops and props in Adobe Illustrator, I brought these elements into Adobe Character Animator to animate them. A program that comes with Adobe After Effects, Character Animator animates your rigged puppet using facial performance captured by your computer's built-in web camera.

Creating the User Interface

Perhaps most important of all: creating a user interface that was easy to understand, intuitive, and followed the branding and style set throughout the rest of the museum.