Jess, Jayvn, Architectural Designers Kayleen Lindstrom and Teague Peak, and Michael Dawson of the Saint Louis Zoo prep lily pads to decorate the booth Graphic Designers Jess Burgess and Jayvn Solomon put the finishing touches on the Frog Cadet display. The clever flat-pack design of the kiosks meant they were easy to transport and set up – another challenge we faced early on in our development process. We designed three primary kiosks – one for each badge – that could be displayed together at Earth Day and separately at our partner locations. This knowledge-based challenge had visitors learning facts and completing activities in order to “level up,” earning their Scout badges.

We jumped from idea to idea trying to balance feasibility and creativity before landing on our final concept: the Frog Scouts. We knew early in the process that we wanted to incorporate some type of gameplay – games can be a great way to engage visitors in a meaningful, fun way.

We also wanted to develop a transportable, modular solution that could be exhibited at multiple institutions – along with the Saint Louis Zoo, we worked with HealthWorks and the Saint Louis Science Center to spread the message of frog conservation. Like last year’s bee-centric Pollinator Café, our challenge was to figure out a fun, engaging way to raise awareness of a critter that is often overlooked. The PGAVia team hopped right in to this year’s cause: frogs! Frogs and toads are important indicator species – they are among the first animals affected by environmental changes, which means they can tell us a lot about the health of an ecosystem.

Save the frogs day