I worked for two years in the Teenspace department (teenagers aged 10–15) at the library in Česká Třebová. That gave me the chance to understand and get to know their age group better. It was during this time that the new library building started going up, and I was given the opportunity to design the graphics for the wallpapers in its interior.
Large-format wallpapers on the theme of space were needed. Apart from the theme itself I had a completely free hand, so I decided to use the space as an opportunity to quietly introduce children to the world of computer science, mathematics and technology. Because the digital world is a natural part of their everyday life today, it seemed interesting to me to show that computers are not just games and social media, but also tools that help people understand the world, from the depths of the oceans to distant galaxies.
The dominant feature of the whole space is a wall by the staircase around seven metres high. Its main motif is a data tree, used in computer science for storing and searching data. Each circle is a node holding a piece of information, and the branches show how those pieces relate to one another. Around the data tree move cosmonauts, divers and fantastical space creatures. The tree is also a graph, and the painting cosmonaut refers to the well-known computer-science problem of graph colouring. Several colour variants came about, from which we chose the one that suited the interior best.
I conceived the lower floor as a cosmic ocean. The water flows here along arrows and waves of a kind known as a vector field. It is used, for instance, to show the direction of the wind or the flow of liquids. In the space there are bit fish made of ones and zeros, an octopus, and cables resembling seaweed. Going up the stairs, you rise slowly out of the water into the air. The flow of water ends here and weightlessness begins. On the second floor there is a planet and animals referring to well-known stories such as Alice in Wonderland or The Frog Prince.
All the motifs were first made as drawings on paper, which I then redrew as vector graphics. The finished wallpapers cover more than 100 m² of wall, so the biggest challenge was keeping track of an enormous number of details and layers. What measured a few centimetres on screen was often two metres once printed.
For the project I prepared the complete concept, all the illustrations, the vector data and the final print files. The colour scheme comes from the library’s visual identity, so that the whole space would feel natural and follow on from the architecture of the building. The design also includes five information panels placed around the department. They explain to children what lies behind the arrows, the coloured circles and the strange creatures.
My aim was to give the space character without overwhelming it with too many pictures. Children today are surrounded by an enormous quantity of visual stimuli, and so I wanted to create an environment that would invite them to explore rather than swamp them. I wanted them to be able to notice something new on every visit, to look for connections and gradually to discover that mathematics and computer science need not be only school subjects. They can be a source of stories, of imagination and of new worlds that so far exist only in their own minds.
