Designing participatory experiences for exploring the future’s most interesting topics

ABOUT

Laura Allcorn is an award-winning creative leader with over 15 years of experience designing high-profile experiential design projects. 

Across a wide range of subject matter, Laura translates complex ideas and frames provocative questions into unexpected experiences. 

She makes it fun for people to process new ideas, express themselves, and imagine alternate possibilities together. 

Laura’s a thought leader on participatory frameworks that bridge experts and non-experts.

Her practice is informed by her multidisciplinary background in public engagement, science communication, participatory performance, and speculative futures.

In parallel to her design practice, Laura is an internationally exhibiting artist and founder of the Institute For Comedic Inquiry.

SPECIALTIES

  • Connecting audiences emotionally and intellectually with ideas and information.

    • Visioning + Prioritization Workshop Design and Facilitation

    • Interpretive Strategy

    • Interpretive Master Planning

    • Narrative Concept Direction

    • Content Auditing + Mapping

    • Content Frameworks + Outlines

    • Content Research

    • Expert Interviews

    • Insights Synthesis + Reporting

    • Content Writing + Scripting

  • Immersing audiences in participatory experiences that move them to feel, think, connect, and act.

    • Visioning + Prioritization Workshop Design and Facilitation

    • Stakeholder + Audience Interviews

    • Insight Synthesis + Reporting

    • Audience Engagement Strategy

    • Concept Direction

    • User Journeys

    • UX Strategy + Design (specializing in interactive and participatory experiences)

    • Experience Benchmarking + Audits

    • Experience Master Planning

    • Pilot Program + Prototyping Initiative Development

  • Engaging audiences in fun, unusual, and immersive workshops for exploring new possibilities together.

    • Public Input/Community Engagement Events

    • Strategic Planning On/Offsite Activities

    • Speculative Visioning Sessions

    • Learning + Development Programming


    I’m currently offering an immersive workshop called Emerging Etiquette. Your team plays advice columnists to publish an issue that resolves your issues. 

    I custom design fun experiential workshops to meet a variety of strategic objectives.

SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTISE

Science

Emerging Technology

Public Interest Initiatives

COLLABORATORS

Research Centers 

Cultural Institutions 

Think Tanks + Innovation Centers

Programming + Curatorial Teams 

Education + Public Engagement Teams 

PAST PARTNERS + CLIENTS

Science Gallery Dublin — ADAPT Research Centre — Human Insights Lab at Accenture — MOD. Museum of Discovery — The Victoria & Albert Museum — Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona — ArtScience Museum Singapore — Science Gallery Detroit — Creative Time Summit X — PRIMER19: Design For All Conference — Risk/Reward Pavement Festival — International Society For Humor Studies Conference — New York Public Library — Thomas Cole Historic Site — Harvard Business School — Carnegie Mellon University — Angel Island Immigration Station — Port of Portland — Design Week Portland — Target — Nike — Nokia — Samsung — and others.

SHAPES MY PROJECTS HAVE TAKEN

Designed dozens of large-scale participatory experiences for cultural institutions — ranging from interpreting a landscape painter’s home, a design archive, a public fountain, and an immigration station.

Conducted futures research for topical exhibitions ranging from Privacy + AI to Sustainability and designed participatory experiences to drive conversation amongst employees and clients for a human insights lab at a global consulting firm.

Designed custom participatory activities and facilitated co-creation workshops with various stakeholder groups.

Led user research, strategy, and UX design, identifying applications for augmented reality that support collaboration between scientists and designers for an innovation center at a global brand.

Created audience engagement strategies and designed experience concepts that were awarded grant funding across the arts, humanities and science fields.

Collaborated on a variety of speculative research projects that help clients imagine possible futures through tangible objects and experiences.

Contact

We can collaborate in various ways and at any stage in the process. Get in touch to chat about your project.

SELECT PROJECTS

Never Been There

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Never Done That

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Never Been There — Never Done That —

PARTICIPATORY
EXHIBITS!

SKU MARKET

  • Project by Institute For Comedic Inquiry. Learn more here.

    Collaborators: Dr. Jennifer Edmond + Dr. Ivan Batcher (ADAPTResearch Centre); and Nikole Gramm

    Commissioned by: Science Gallery Dublin and ADAPT Research Centre for BIAS: Built This Way (2021-22).

    Topics: social profiling algorithms, surveillance capitalism, algorithmic bias, identity formation

LIVE
PERFORMANCES!

2022 GAIT AUGMENTATION SEMINAR

  • Project by Institute For Comedic Inquiry. Learn more here.

    Collaborators: Thomas Wester (Technical Director at Glowbox)

    Staged at: Science Gallery Detroit, Creative Time Summit X, PRIMER:19 Futures For All, Design Week Portland, and Design Vancouver

    Topics: surveillance, privacy, skeletal-tracking

IMMERSIVE
RESEARCH!

DATA DOCTOR

  • Project made in collaboration with Office of Life + Art.

    Commissioned by: Accenture, Human Insights Lab.

    Topics: data privacy, personalization, convenience