America Makes
An immersive exhibit showcasing additive manufacturing and its industry impact.
America Makes is the nation’s leading public-private partnership for additive manufacturing (AM) and 3D printing technology. Since its founding in 2012 as the Department of Defense’s national manufacturing innovation institute, America Makes has brought together industry, academia, government, and workforce development organizations to advance AM adoption and strengthen U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. Based in Youngstown, Ohio, the organization plays a pivotal role in educating the public about AM, highlighting current projects, and showcasing its impact at local, regional, and national levels.
Services Offered
Large-Scale Print | Video Production | Graphic Design | Interactive Design
Challenge
As a dynamic leader in a rapidly evolving industry, America Makes needed to update the design and messaging of its exhibit space to better reflect the excitement and innovation of additive manufacturing. Key challenges included making the space adaptable for future exhibits, conveying the organization’s educational mission, demonstrating its broad impact, and engaging visitors through modern, interactive experiences. The existing exhibit lacked the flexibility and interactivity required to fully immerse visitors in the technology and its applications.
Solution
McConnell Marketing and design partners addressed these challenges through a comprehensive renovation of the exhibit space. The redesign incorporated blended media—including video, interactive touchscreens, and holograms—along with movable, museum-style architectural components to create a flexible and engaging environment. Educational and industry-focused content was organized to highlight local, regional, and national impact, while interactive elements allowed visitors to explore current projects and learn about additive manufacturing in an engaging, hands-on way. The result is a dynamic exhibit that effectively communicates America Makes’ mission, energizes the space, and educates visitors about the future of AM technology.
Exhibit Zones
The project concept was to create a logical storytelling exhibit that would guide visitors through five distinct zones, each explaining an important component in the evolution of industry in America.
1. Welcome guests to America Makes. Introduce manufacturing and how it sociologically transformed and impacted the development of modern civilization.
2. Educate visitors on the tremendous impact America Makes and additive manufacturing have on the landscape of America.
3. Explain how Youngstown has evolved from once being part of the country’s steel belt, then rust belt and is now emerging as the epicenter of the tech belt.
4. Provide basic understanding of the processes of additive manufacturing through holograph displays, project samples and an educational video overview.
5. Space for members of industry, academia, government, workforce and economic development organizations to convene, coordinate and catalyze.
Welcome
Zone 1 introduces the impact of manufacturing and how it has sociologically transformed and impacted the development of modern civilization. We created a welcome video to show the progression of industrial revolutions and evolution of manufacturing, designed a welcome station to register guests, and developed signage to overview of America Makes. The frosted window design separating the lobby from the rest of the exhibit features the topography of the Mahoning River, along which Youngstown was founded. This was thoughtfully incorporated as land and additive manufacturing share parallel stories, both built and created in a layering process. And just as Youngstown convened, catalyzed, and coordinated as a bustling city along the river, so too America Makes convenes, catalyzes, and coordinates bold and innovative minds along this same “river”.
National Impact
The national impact zone of the exhibit educates visitors on the tremendous impact both America Makes and additive manufacturing are having on the landscape of America. An introductory video is played before guests have the opportunity to navigate through several recent projects through touch-screen technology. After watching the short video on how America Makes has accelerated the adoption of additive manufacturing, visitors navigate through projects on the interactive kiosk using touch-screen technology. The first interactive projects we featured had nationwide, impactful objectives like maintaining and sustaining legacy aircraft for the U.S. Air Force, developing and validating a prototype digital AM supply chain for the U.S. Army and Department of Defense Original Equipment Manufacturers, and creating a STEM talent pool to sustain U.S. competitive edge, global competitiveness, and economic security.
Youngstown, a U.S. Manufacturing Example
Once into this portion of the exhibit, we felt it was important to give the visitor a sense of place. Why Youngstown? This zone explains through a silent photo loop and didactic walls showing the city’s history at a glance, how Youngstown has evolved and is emerging as the epicenter of the country’s new tech belt. A key component of this zone is the integration of a part blueprint from one of Youngstown’s steel mills. The part, previously manufactured through the steel manufacturing process, included this hand-drawn blueprint. With the invention of additive manufacturing, this same part, as shown on the iPad in the exhibit, can be drawn digitally and 3D-printed. By walking visitors through the local story of a city once part of the steel belt, then the rust belt, and now as part of the tech belt, it is the hope that people will leave the experience with a sense of hope for the future and interest in learning more about additive manufacturing.
Understanding Additive Manufacturing Processes
The educational zone of the exhibit is the largest and ever-changing. It’s full of exciting stories, real-world additive-manufactured examples in both holograph and actual form, and ways to quickly understand the complex world of additive manufacturing. The purpose of this area is to overview of the seven processes of additive manufacturing and their applications through tactile, immersive experiences. Content was developed with audiences of varied interests, from elementary to engineers, in mind. Each process—Binder Jetting, Directed Energy Deposition, Material Extrusion, Material Jetting, Sheet Lamination, Vat Photopolymerization, Powder Bed Fusion—is explained in the educational video in everyday language.
Collaborative Conversation Space
The aim of the collaborative hall in the exhibit is to provide a comfortable landing space for visitors and staff to host the inspired conversations, ideas, and questions that are born from the experience of the first four zones. This space is used for further education, training, and meeting opportunities—to align with America Makes’ goals to unite the community, encourage collaboration, and build a comprehensive and globally competitive American additive manufacturing ecosystem.
Video Components
Enjoy several videos of the exhibit, produced and edited by McConnell Marketing using Adobe Creative Suite. We took a library of existing footage and crafted a cohesive suite of videos that were integrated throughout the exhibit to showcase America Makes and the additive manufacturing industry.
Inside the exhibit takes viewers on a virtual tour of the America Makes exhibit, highlighting interactive displays and featured projects.
Welcome to America Makes welcomes guests and shows the progression of industrial revolutions and evolution of manufacturing.
Accelerating the Adoption of Additive Manufacturing overviews impact both America Makes and additive manufacturing are having on America.
Manufacturing History of the Mahoning Valley highlights industrial history of Youngstown from steel belt to rust belt to tech belt.
Additive 101 gives summary for basic understanding of the processes of additive manufacturing and their applications.
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