FEATURE
Emotional Mapping and the Power of Spatial Storytelling
Projected onto the shards exploding from the Henry House—suspended in mid-destruction—media moments immerse visitors into powerful first-person accounts of both naive notions of glory, and the terrible truth of war. The inset floorcase houses items found on the battlefield, left behind by soldiers or long lost to the throes of battle. Photo courtesy of ©Brian Rodgers Jr., Digital Art That Rocks™.
Imagine: darkness envelops you as you step through a doorway into an enclosed space at the American Civil War Museum in Richmond, Virginia. The walls surrounding you are black, creating a sharp contrast to the bright lobby and renovated Tredegar Ironworks site. Ambient sounds of distant artillery fire and muffled voices envelop you in a new time and place. Ahead, a house façade, beginning to unravel, is backed by a fractured projection screen looming just beyond, alluding to the shattered fragility of the time—not unlike the experiences of civilians who sought refuge in caves during civil war sieges in 1863. This carefully crafted environment doesn't just teach visitors about historical events—it invokes a visceral, emotional connection to the experience many Americans faced during the conflict.
Our brains create and code memories through a nearly-constant series of interchanges—the immediacy of our present, our lived experiences, and our perceptions and personality combine. We recall experiences or find connection in information when a new experience (learnings, spaces, or interactions) pique those inherent, and sometimes deep, connections newly sparked. Learning and memory are linked, because memory and emotion are linked. Through sensory input, spatial and informational perception, memories are formed, recalled, or strengthened.
Inside a stylized form evoking the Mississippi River bluff at Vicksburg, a small geometric form theater immerses visitors in the 150 days during the spring and summer of 1863. Photo courtesy of ©Brian Rodgers Jr., Digital Art That Rocks™.
As interpreters, how do we move beyond presenting historical facts to designing transformative moments of understanding that lasts long after visitors walk away? What makes certain spaces resonate so deeply they remain etched in our memory long after we leave?
The answer might lie in the intricate relationship between emotion, learning, and physical space. Neuroscientists Mary Helen Immordino-Yang and Antonio Damasio's research demonstrates that "meaningful learning and thinking are inherently emotional endeavors." When an experience activates both intellectual and emotional responses, the memories become richer and more lasting—as Immordino-Yang writes, “we feel, therefore we learn.”
This bridge between emotion, learning, and space forms the foundation of Emotional Mapping—a methodology for, and an outlook on, designing experiences that consider emotional impact and personal resonance by purposefully engaging the human brain at specific moments in time to map both emotional intent to a space and emotional learning into visitors’ minds and memories during and beyond the time spent with a story and landscape.
Henry House visualizes what happens when the war arrives at your doorstep. A bedsheet battle drawing shows the location of the Henry home and other details of the Battle of Manassas as the key artifact held within. Photo courtesy of ©Brian Rodgers Jr., Digital Art That Rocks™.
What is Emotional Mapping?
Emotional Mapping places human-centered learning at the crux of experience design. Rather than assuming emotion as a byproduct of interpretation, it becomes an essential planning tool that begins to shape everything from spatial layout to narrative flow. By mapping the emotional journey of visitors as they move through a space, designers can identify moments of greatest impact—whether driven by story, message, artifacts, or learning opportunities.
This methodology emerged when our team at Solid Light, an experience design/build firm located in Louisville, Kentucky, was faced with the challenge of creating a different type of war museum at the American Civil War Museum—one that would share America's full story from the perspective of those who fought, died, and survived, moving beyond the traditional focus of complex battle statistics and high-ranking generals’ viewpoints. The search for emotional impact began by researching the war to ascertain which moments yielded the greatest consequence and impact on soldiers, civilians, and people who were enslaved. It became apparent the historical facts and figures paled in comparison to the potential impact of placing today’s visitors into the minds and moments of people experiencing the war some 160 years ago. This effort quickly evolved into a comprehensive approach to spatial storytelling. Using a color gradient keyed to a range of emotional and didactic values, designers can visualize the intended emotional journey throughout the gallery spaces, ensuring appropriate pacing between intense moments and quieter periods of reflection.
The American Civil War Museum’s Emotional Map depicts the emotionally-driven experience points a visitor encounters within the exhibit gallery. It also visualizes the experience areas that call for rich storytelling and layered executional approaches. Photo courtesy of Solid Light, Inc.
Attention to emotional rhythm serves a crucial purpose. Research by Susan Vogel and Lars Schwabe reveals when experiences activate both intellectual and emotional responses, visitors form richer, more lasting memories. At the same time, excessive or prolonged negative experiences can impair cognition and recall. Incorporating thoughtful pacing along the storyline allows visitors to take the time to process information, find moments of emotional engagement, and distinguish between key points in ways that reinforce impact and learning. After the opening of the American Civil War Museum, visitor surveys revealed 80% of participants felt personal connections to the historical stories they encountered. This demonstrates how a carefully planned visitor journey builds meaningful story arcs and connection points while remaining mindful of visitors' cognitive load.
Projected onto the shards exploding from the Henry House—suspended in mid-destruction—media moments immerse visitors into powerful first-person accounts of both naive notions of glory, and the terrible truth of war. The inset floorcase houses items found on the battlefield, left behind by soldiers or long lost to the throes of battle. Photo courtesy of ©Brian Rodgers Jr., Digital Art That Rocks™.
LEFT: A design render visualizes the entrance to the re-designed museum, The Dot Experience, in Louisville, KY.
RIGHT: A design render details one exhibit space within The Dot Experience focused on orientation and mobility.
Both photos courtesy of Solid Light, Inc.
Following the launch of the American Civil War Museum, Solid Light was approached by the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) with a unique mission—to create the world’s most accessible museum from the bones of their original, in-accessible space. While the application of emotional mapping to a space didn’t alter as a creative approach and design intent basis, the execution and how the emotional map was interpreted evolved to encompass a broader spectrum of human experience.
It is important to both understand—and act on the understanding—that visitors arrive to a space with different lived experiences, varying abilities, and perceptions. For the experience to be emotionally relevant to more people, we need to avoid assumptions made from a sighted-only, homogeneous-ability point-of-view. By centering the experience design and interpretation methods around inclusivity and accessibility, it required our team to reconsider how to design for a visitor rather than around the story or space, challenging their base assumptions at every step. Defaulting to the supposed “average visitor” does not satisfy the need, vision, nor the purpose of the experience—to create meaningful connections for visitors who are blind, low vision, deaf, deaf-blind, wheelchair users, neurodivergent, and more. This comprehensive approach to accessibility required extensive collaboration with advocates, community members, and experts, ensuring design decisions were not just technically accessible but genuinely inclusive and meaningful.
For tactile engagement, artifacts with specific preservation requirements that needed to stay behind glass were scanned and 3D replicas were created. So, alongside each artifact behind glass, there will be a tactile replica accompanying it. We introduce the opportunity to interact with the artifact and, in turn, remove a barrier of access for people who are blind or low vision—without having to request a special cart, accommodation, or docent. Audio elements were carefully considered to provide not just narration but immersive soundscapes, audio descriptions, and targeted sound to convey spatial awareness while considering auditory overload.
The physical space itself is reimagined through multiple considerations of visitor needs. In addition to traditional visual wayfinding, our team developed a flooring approach that leverages contrast between textures and flooring types to make physical and visual detectability integrated into the experience whether walking, rolling, or using a white cane. Exhibition heights and interactive spaces are reconsidered to ensure comfortable access for wheelchair users, while lighting design incorporates the needs of visitors with light sensitivity or low vision. Interactive elements accommodate various physical capabilities, offering multiple ways to engage with an exhibit component. Emotional mapping serves more visitors by considering the emotional resonance for each moment while maintaining its core principle of human-centered design.
Solid Light and community prototype participants gather to review design assumptions and share their lived experiences to inform the development of The Dot Experience. Photo by Halle Chapman.
Planning for Wonder
The idea of wonder—the profound sense of awe and discovery interpreters strive to create—can emerge from the thoughtful planning of space, story, and emotion coupled with a sense of community and comradery. By mapping these elements during the planning process, designers create environments that draw visitors through carefully crafted emotional journeys. The methodology of emotional mapping recognizes wonder can arise from many sources: the beauty of a well-designed space, the surprise of unexpected information, or the profound connection to another's lived experience—in this case, it is the thematic design of story and space that elicits opportunities for emotion, relevance, and learning to stir reaction and build lasting connections within visitors’ imaginations and memories.
The success of emotional mapping lies in its focus on the essential human need for connection through story. As technological capabilities expand and audience expectations evolve, the tools for creating these connections will change, but the fundamental goal remains constant. The future of interpretive spaces depends on our ability to create experiences that resonate on both intellectual and emotional levels, fostering moments of wonder that transform understanding.
For interpreters and designers, emotional mapping reminds us our spaces are not just containers for information but vessels for transformation. By carefully considering the emotional journey of visitors we create experiences that don't just inform but inspire genuine wonder and evoke lasting change through the transformative power of shared human stories.
Ben Jett and a Prototype Participant interact with a tactile map of The Dot Experience. Photo by Halle Chapman.
