In the year 2022, Space X has goals to send to its first cargo mission to Mars. The objectives for the first mission will be to confirm water resources, identify hazards, and put in place initial power, mining, and life support infrastructure. A second mission, with both cargo and crew, is targeted for 2024, with primary objectives of building a propellant depot and preparing for future crew flights. The ships from these initial missions will also serve as the beginnings of the first Mars base, from which we can build a thriving city and eventually a self-sustaining civilization on Mars.

I was tasked to curate an exhibit design with corresponding print material to effectively market the exhibit. Alongside my partner for this project, Cody Stocker and I curated and developed the graphics, exhibit design, and print collateral to present our potential client with.

After doing extensive research on the topic of the SpaceX’s Mars first mission, we went with a very modern sleek look for the overall feel of the project. We wanted to the visitors of the exhibit to be immersed and have an experience like no other. With the use of virtual reality technology, we take the exhibit visitors or “crew members” through the journey of what it will be like to go and visit the red planet.

The crew members start their journey to Mars with our state of the art VR headsets. Once inside the VR Transportation Capsule, the crew will buckle themselves into their seats and await takeoff. Once all engines ignite, the crew members motorized chair starts to shake and recline until they have left Earth’s atmosphere to give the most realistic experience possible.

Once the crew has landed safely on Mars, their seats will unlock and they will be free to explore the red planet. They will exit the VR Transportation Capsule and go “outside” to help with the excavation and mining duties. Is the VR Exploration Room, they will have free time to explore the Mar’s settlement for approximately twenty minutes. Through the use of augmented and virtual reality, the crew can not only interact with their fellow crew members but the surrounding environment.

After you have finished exploring the Mars landscape, the crew then retreats in the to main “hub” of the Mars colony. Here, the crew can have a closer look at the suits they were wearing outside, take a look a the Mars sphere to see how they contributed to the development of the planet while outside, and view the life-size typical living quarters they would be staying in while living on Mars.

When designing the poster for the exhibit, we wrote down descriptive words that we wanted the crew members(museum visitors) to experience when visiting the exhibit. We also wanted something that looked intriguing and gave a sense of adventure. The red and pink tones in the background of the image give the viewer a sense of the red planet’s atmosphere without it blatantly screaming Mars.