Recognition

Second Story has collaborated with many of the world’s outstanding organizations, cultural institutions, and brands to create compelling projects that have been featured in the popular press and in dozens of books. The studio’s work has also garnered many of the industry’s top interactive design awards and accolades.

2009 Awards
  • I.D., Annual Design Review, Honorable Mention, Interactive, 2009 (IQSC Collection Explorer)
  • I.D., Annual Design Review, Design Distinction, Interactive, 2009 (Digital Vaults)
  • AIGA Annual Design Competition, Informing, 2009 (Library of Congress Visitor Experience)
  • Self Service Excellence Awards, Best of Show, 2009 (Library of Congress Visitor Experience)
  • Self Service Excellence Awards, Best Other Deployment, 2009 (Library of Congress Visitor Experience)
  • Communication Arts, Webpick, May 2009 (Oregon TimeWeb)

    “Visitors can create custom-themed timelines (with over 800 records from an archive) by focusing time parameters, selecting from dozens of tags or topics and by filtering items according to region, materials or keywords.”

  • Webby Awards, Nominee, Cultural Institutions, 2009 (IQSC Collection Explorer)
  • Communication Arts, Interactive Design Annual, Information Design, 2009 (GRAMMY Museum)

    “An amazing amount of great work! There is a richness in the various interfaces and experiences that encourage interaction. What a great way to tell stories of music.”

  • American Association of Museums Muse Awards, Bronze, Online Presence, 2009 (IQSC Collection Explorer, International Quilt Study Center & Museum)

    “The Quilt Explorer encourages exploration with a delightful focus on engaging storytelling through lo-res video with a appropriate community feel, and an interesting approach to allowing users to compare, comment and share.”

  • American Association of Museums Muse Awards, Gold, Interactive Kiosks , 2009 (GRAMMY Museum)

    “Well done! Grammy Museum! It can be regarded as a good example to show how a museum combines the museum collections, historical material and interactive kiosks and seriously depicts the possibilities and the potential what a future museum could be.”

  • American Association of Museums Muse Awards, Bronze, Interactive Kiosks, 2009 (Library of Congress Visitor Experience)

    “Library of Congress New Visitor Experience provides a rich and multi-functional experience with well researched content that connect the historic artifact, the people and the context. The interactive wall is not only innovative and engaging and makes users to have lots of fun and excitement but also beautifully designed and enables users to gain enough knowledge and information about the library.”

  • American Association of Museums Muse Awards, Honorable Mention, Interactive Kiosks, 2009 (12151791 Sculpture, McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum)

    “The 12151791 Sculpture Interactive is a good example of how to present a contemporary installation with an interactive kiosk, especially one such as this, which is a huge and ongoing project. This interactive features a critical statement about the meaning of freedom, quoted from many historical moments. With the help of the kiosk, the entire installation clearly presents the concept of the project and makes users understand the value and significance of freedom.”

  • HOW, Interactive Design Awards, Best of Show, 2009 (Library of Congress Visitor Experience)

    “With dozens of kiosks and and other interactive elements, Second Story Interactive Studios linked every department at the Library and made the historical content more engaging for visitors. You can stand in front of a spiral bookcase re-creating Thomas Jefferson’s library and page through one of the tomes on a touch screen. Or walk up to a 16-foot-wide interactive wall and watch the founding documents come alive.”

  • HOW, Interactive Design Awards, Merit, Consumer Web Sites, 2009 (Digital Vaults)
  • HOW, Interactive Design Awards, Outstanding, Miscellaneous, 2009 (Bank of America Market Data Mirrors)

    “The bright forms strike the perfect balance between flash and facts: they create graphs based on current market conditions, but they’re also poetic interpretations of the numbers. ‘This work is absolutely stunning,’ says juror Brien Grant. ‘The idea is clear and the execution is strong. The world’s markets are constantly changing and in motion, and this work really amplifies that essence beautifully.’”

  • HOW, Interactive Design Awards, Merit, Kiosks, 2009 (Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center)
2009 Press
  • “New Museum Showcases New Mexico’s Colorful History ,” The Associated Press, Deborah Baker, May 14, 2009 (New Mexico History Museum)

    “Interactive displays are an important part of the museum’s mix... [including] a sophisticated, bilingual exhibit on the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War and made New Mexico a U.S. territory. Highlighted portions of the treaty link to interviews with historians.”

  • “15 Years of Interactive Media,” Communication Arts, May 2009
  • “Still Grand on the Sand,” Los Angeles Times, Martha Groves , April 19, 2009 (Annenberg Community Beach House)

    “The Guest House, set within gardens and terraces, will offer interactive exhibits about Davies, Hearst and Hollywood, with a soundtrack of laughter and tinkling champagne glasses.”

  • “The Buzz: Installation Spotlight: The Touch and Feel of Music ,” Sound & Video Contractor, Jessaca Gutierrez, April 14, 2009 (Music Genres Table, GRAMMY Museum)

    “Perhaps the most complex and intriguing installation at the museum is the Crossovers area. This exhibit is a 19ft. table that acts as both a projection screen and a touchscreen...Up to 20 guests at a time can tap an image that's being projected onto the table to listen via headphones to 150 genres of music. Guests interested in one genre of music can use the table to open up photos, songs, and dialogue about that particular genre's importance and history—possibly linking them to other genres and learning about surprising connections between music categories.”

  • “Blowing the Dust Off,” The Oregonian, Mary Pitman Kitch, March 26, 2009 (Oregon TimeWeb)

    “If you haven’t checked out the Oregon Historical Society’s dynamite ‘Time Web’ and brilliant trove of historic photographs and documents online, you should. Whether you’re in grade school or graduate school, it is simple to gain access to the online collection...The society’s spectacular online resources are invaluable for rural Oregonians. Many can only rarely visit the society’s research library in downtown Portland.”

  • “Economy Doesn’t Deter Architect,” The Oregonian, Brian Libby, February 24, 2009 (Weave Building)

    “As an extension of its marketing, Skylab worked with award-winning Internet design company Second Story to create a Web site for tenants that acts like social networking sites such as Facebook to market their work collectively.”

  • “The Great Library Jefferson Began, and How It Grew,” The New York Times, Charles McGrath, January 15, 2009 (Library of Congress Visitor Experience)

    “And the library may be the most technologically enhanced tourist site in Washington. There are computer kiosks everywhere, like giant iPhone screens. Touch one, and a detail of the building or one of Jefferson’s books or even his rough draft of the Declaration of Independence is in front of you; touch it again for a close-up, a translation or an explanation. Using a little passport you are issued on entering, part of the official ‘Library of Congress experience,’ you can even save some of these details for further study on your home computer. The library’s Web site (loc.gov) is so extensive and elaborate that, had I only known, I could have toured the whole place without ever leaving home.”