WEATHERHEAD Experience Design Group specializes in the convergence of educational programs, content development, interactive exhibit design, and sophisticated multimedia technology, both in the physical world and online. Founded in 2001, WEATHERHEAD Experience Design Group is led by partners Andrea Weatherhead and Diane Andolsek. The company is made up of an eclectic team of award winning former museum directors, educators, designers, media producers, and technology leaders.

WEATHERHEAD Experience Design Group excels in supporting the multiple goals of institutions we work with by developing imaginative, clearly communicated and audience centered content development, design, and integrated media. The meaningful interactive exhibits and online activities we develop provide choice, control, and agency to the visitors, as well as successfully extend the visitor experience beyond the walls of the physical space. Our content development and design guidelines are visitor oriented to insure a quality experience that supports the goals of the exhibit and to appeal to as wide a variety of visitors as possible. We design to provide as much clarity and hierarchy in the information design as possible. We have designed to ADA standards of accessibility and for multiple languages. Our goal is to support the intention of the interactive exhibit with designs that reflect the needs and personality of audiences while attracting and holding their attention in what can sometimes be distracting spaces. We enjoy challenging projects which require imaginative problem solving to achieve a seamless convergence of the physical and the virtual, and we have developed a strong collaborative process by which the best results can be achieved by team members representing a wide variety of disciplines.

Andrea Weatherhead

Andrea Weatherhead is the primary visionary guiding company direction, product development, and overall quality. She directs all education and content development processes including editorial, design, audio, and film/video for all exhibit and interactive products. She also collaborates with architectural resources to ensure that all content objectives and acoustic considerations are integrated with and satisfied by the floor plan and museum environment.

Prior to founding WEATHERHEAD, Andrea was the Director of Interactive Development at Experience Music Project in Seattle. There she directed the development of the popular interactive gallery, Sound Lab. Her visionary high-tech educational and interactive environments earned her numerous awards including the Gold MUSE award in recognition of the “highest standards of excellence in the use of media and technology for interpretation and education in art” from the American Association of Museums. Her work on Sound Lab also earned her a spot in the Exploratorium publication Are We There Yet? Conversations about Best Practices in Science Exhibition Development on exemplary exhibit development techniques.

Prior to EMP, Andrea was executive producer and creator of the Microsoft Network’s Rifff, a uniquely interactive online music-video experience where users create their own musical experiences. Rifff was lauded by the New York Times as an Internet pioneer in the convergence of education, celebrities, music, and technology.

Andrea was previously an independent recording and live sound engineer, producer, and sound designer. She was an adjunct professor, teaching basic physics and audio technology, at The American University in Washington, D.C. and has been published in several journals including Twentieth Century Literature. She holds a Masters of Science degree in audio engineering, acoustics, and production from The American University and a Bachelor of Arts degree with High Honors and Distinction in English Literature from Stanford University.

Diane Andolsek

Diane Andolsek directs all aspects of media delivery and web development for WEATHERHEAD. She is an award-winning senior manager and producer with a wealth of experience integrating media and technology, and has over a decade of web development experience.

Diane was executive producer and creative director of emplive.com, Experience Music Project’s breakthrough web site and the EMP Digital Collection, a web-based reference catalog available both in the museum and on the web that allowed visitors to collect and retrieve bookmarks. The Digital Collection earned the Gold MUSE award in recognition of “the highest standards of excellence in the use of media and technology for a collections database/reference resource” from the American Association of Museums. Diane later joined EMP’s parent company, Vulcan Inc, as New Project Development Manager.

Diane was also an independent recording engineer and producer for numerous film and television projects. She holds a Master of Arts in Media and Educational Technology with an emphasis on instructional design from Fairfield University and a Bachelor of Science in Communication/Radio and TV from Ohio University. Her work has appeared in the International Journal of Instructional Media.