The Valut
Digital Interactives
Client
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Year
2020
My Role
Lead Interactive Designer
The Vault is a permanent exhibition at the Economy Museum inside the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, created to make foundational concepts in money, banking, and financial security accessible and engaging—especially for school groups and younger audiences. Through a mix of tactile exhibits, multimodal content, and inclusive storytelling, the experience transforms complex economic topics into approachable, hands-on learning moments.
As Lead Interactive Designer, I developed and executed on the digital engagement strategy that integrated with the physical environment and aligned with key exhibit themes. Working closely with exhibit and content teams, I designed three core interactives: Journey of Money, Design Your Own Cash, and Security Lab, each tailored to complement specific sections of the exhibition. These tactile, ADA-compliant experiences encourage curiosity, reinforce financial concepts, and support diverse learning styles through storytelling, play, and hands-on exploration.
Journey of Money
Journey of Money is a hybrid physical-digital experience that visualizes the lifecycle of currency—from printing and circulation to retirement. Visitors turn a large, embedded wheel styled like a dollar bill, triggering synchronized animations and documentary footage on surrounding screens. This tactile motion drives a narrative that demystifies the process behind how money moves through the economy, offering a kinetic and memorable way to grasp complex systems.
Design Your Own Cash
Design Your Own Cash is a creative station where visitors step into the role of currency designer. Using a touchscreen interface and camera, guests personalize a U.S. dollar bill with their own portrait, name, and design choices. The interface integrates real security features—like watermarks and microprinting—into the customization process, reinforcing key lessons in monetary design while giving visitors a playful, take-home experience.
Security Lab
Security Lab offers a gamified learning experience centered on counterfeit detection. Visitors are introduced to real security features found in U.S. currency—such as color-shifting ink and embedded threads—through a touchscreen exploration. They then apply this knowledge in an interactive challenge that tests their ability to identify fake bills. Adjacent to the screen, a physical vitrine equipped with magnifiers allows close inspection of authentic banknotes, connecting digital learning to real-world materials.
The entire exhibition was designed with accessibility at its core—featuring ADA-compliant interactives, multimodal content delivery, and tactile elements for visitors with visual impairments. By combining inclusive design, interactive storytelling, and strategic pacing, The Vault transforms financial literacy into an active, engaging experience for learners of all ages.
A full case study and documentation of the interactive strategy are available upon request.