Smash, Don’t Pass
Interactive Art Installation
A temporary art installation made of duct tape on Carnegie Mellon’s campus in Pittsburgh, teaching students new to the region to kill invasive spotted lanternflies by gamifying the experience.
Role: Experience Designer, Typographer, Placemaking
Type Installation
As invasive Lanternflies spread across the northestern US, they destroy agriculture and native plants, so many states advise people to swat them on sight. Newcomers to the region, though, tend to admire the beautiful bugs, not knowing to kill them.
This installation, placed on a high-traffic sidewalk, lets passerbys know exactly what to do with the flies. Tongue-in-cheek humor lends memorability while the installation’s placement underfoot draws attention to the bugs on the ground, inviting viewers right then and there to smash, don’t pass.
Poster
To provide context for the curious, we created posters that we placed nearby. The QR code links to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s webpage on lanternflies.
Process
We went with “Smash, Don’t Pass” because it was punchy and had a strong call to action, all while leveraging the humor of the euphemism to be memorable and inspire playful interaction.
With early ideas, we kicked around paper cutouts, washable paint, and this parchment paper sandwich of dead flies (it was as gross as it sounded), before we realized duct tape was the way to go: it would make our typography cheap and easy to install while also durable enough to withstand foot traffic.
Keeping in mind the blocky visual style duct tape affords, we selected a typeface and an illustration style that was reminiscent of old arcade games such as Space Invaders to nudge people towards a playful attitude.
We installed the type in early September, when new students are abound and lanternflies are out in full force.