The Dr. Seuss estate is one of the best-selling children's brands worldwide. The books were groundbreaking in improving children's literacy across the US and have sold hundreds of millions of copies over seventy years, alongside several feature films. The work speaks to every generation, so our job was to create an experience that engages a wide demographic and does justice to such an incredible body of work.
Creative Director Max Painter and Lead Designer Daria Maksimova worked with Kilburn Live and Dr. Seuss Enterprises to develop an immersive adaptation of the books. We wanted bold environments with rich colours and tactile surfaces throughout, sidestepping the moulded 'fibreglass' look so often used in brand activations. Our Truffula Trees and Horton's clovers had stunningly tactile tufts, and each environment had a clear, distinct visual identity with an art-space-like aesthetic.
We created a throughput-efficient open-world operating model where each room represented a scene from the books. We chose a mix of well-known titles and more obscure works that contain amazing visual material. The objective for each room: stunning visually, tactile and interactive, with an element of surprise.
The Dr. Seuss Experience first opened in Toronto to 175,000 visitors and was featured by TIME magazine as one of the world's coolest places.
