Resolute Desk: Be the President
Visual System, UX Design and UI DesignTeam: Trivium Interactive
Client: National Constitution Center
The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia is a museum dedicated to the U.S. Constitution and its origins. Its newest gallery, Governing the Nation, opened May 15, 2026 as part of America's 250th anniversary, funded by a $15 million gift — the largest single donation in NCC history.
Visitors become President for a simulated day in the Oval Office, working through a real presidential to-do list at a kiosk styled like the actual Resolute Desk.
Visitors become President for a simulated day in the Oval Office, working through a real presidential to-do list at a kiosk styled like the actual Resolute Desk.
Wireframes
Five rounds of iteration took the experience from a basic decision tree to a fully scripted interaction — advisors you could call, documents to sign and consequences tied to real history.
Designing With Constraints
We wanted the visitor to feel presidential power when using the interaface. That meant turning the desk itself into the interface, with every object on it doing real work.
The biggest constraint came from legal, not design. NCC ruled out using the presidential seal anywhere on screen. I designed into it: "Constitution Daily," an invented newspaper that became the way every decision's outcome got revealed. It's a good example of how the strongest idea in the whole project came out of a restriction, not in spite of one.
Across Platforms
The same visual system carried from kiosk to mobile and desktop but the desk's physical props didn't. Without a real pen, stamp or phone to interact with, every gesture had to be redesigned for a screen: "Get Advice" became a text pop-up instead of a phone call, the tablet checklist moved into a hamburger menu, and surprise tasks appeared as a full-screen moment instead of a quiet notification.
Desktop stayed close to the kiosk's wide layout; mobile changed the most.
Outcome
Resolute Desk shipped as a permanent installation, named in NCC's press release as a signature gallery experience. It now reaches classrooms through programs serving 6 million students a year.