Bob Rogers, founder and chair of experience design firm BRC Imagination Arts, has said that visitor attractions must be designed as “netmarks” – a concept that takes into account social media impact on physical design.

BRC last month completed the first phase of a multi-year, multi-million dollar revamp of Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, introducing a 78-foot-long and 6-foot-tall row of red letters spelling the words “Long Live Rock”.

Rogers – who worked as a Disney Imagineer for more than two decades before forming BRC – said that creating a netmark is critical for a designer when creating or revamping a visitor attraction.

“I wouldn’t say you even have to turn it into a landmark,” he told Attractions Management. "I’d say instead how do you turn it into a ‘netmark’? How do you turn it into something that isn’t going to be a physical icon on the land but something that is going to live in things like social media?

“It’s so important these days that you don’t think of your attraction as just an attraction. You have to think about how it impacts all of social media, giving people the opportunity to do things that involve it. The opportunity to take you picture on or near those letters have invigorated a space that was just a windswept plaza that only an architect could love. We put up the big letters and it immediately became a photo icon.”

The ongoing development of what has been dubbed “Museum 2.0”, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will eventually include the redevelopment of its hall of fame and its main exhibit areas, with netmark experiences being created to appeal to a Millennial audience “more interested in spending money on experiences than on possessions.”

“Architects are much more focused on leaving their mark upon the land; creating something that’s almost a piece of civic sculptural art,” said Rogers.

“The idea that they’re creating something that really lives in the ether is an interesting one. It will be interesting to see how people absorb that as time goes on. To the architect their idea of that is the entire thing. Our idea is the individual pieces. I want a picture with it but when it's this huge thing, that’s not an easy task.”