Project Description

»Discover the world of new materials –
A learning tool for aspiring European scientists.«

The »Secret Materials« box is an initiative by the European Commission to draw attention to and increase awareness about the impact and potential of materials research within Europe. The materials box addresses the general public of Europe as well as architects and (product) designers.

Tasks

• Concept with focus on imparting innovative materials
  with a visually appealing and entertaining approach
• Selection of applicable material samples
  and coordination with material suppliers
• Development of demonstrative and entertaining experiments and »stories« for each presented material
• Design of all box components:
  Packaging, leaflet, material pockets,
  visual aids to carry out the experiments
• Text editing and copywriting
• Printing and production of the box incl. processing and packing of all components

Concept & Implementation

Most new materials reveal their benefits in applications that are not comprehensive to the scientific illiterate public. Thus, a story was created around each »secret« material sample that allows understanding its behaviour before getting into detail about the industrial applicable context. Concept and design of the promotion box focus on a »hands on« and eye-catching approach where the »top secret« properties of each material are waiting to be discovered by playful experiments.

As an example, thermochromatic pigments are presented in the form of a »DETECTION PAPER«. The user is asked to »activate the secret surface« by placing his hand onto the paper. Doing this an x-ray image of »his« hand is revealed after a few seconds. The experiment finally is solved with the explanation that the black pigments printed on the paper turn transparent when exposed to body heat and thus reveal an image printed underneath.

The following five material innovations are introduced:

• shape memory alloy (Euroflex)
• ceramic wallpapers (Marburger Tapetenfabrik)
• thermochromatic pigments (Cornelius Chemicals)
• luminescent aluminium (Novelis Germany)
• multi-wall sheets with aerogel (Bayer Sheet Europe)

Concept and text were developed in co-operation with the material expert Dr. Sascha Peters from Berlin:
www.haute-innovation.com

Especially »lekker«

Since the European Commission is comitted to address all European countries, translations of the English contents into most of the European languages are available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/research/industrial_technologies
(click on e-library and promotional-material)