An appealing interaction for all ages

Joint Nordic pavilion at EXPO 2005 in Nagoya offered the guests an intriguing opportunity to send a symbolic greeting to the Nordic countries.

In this popular event for both children and adults, visitors were encouraged to make a personal message and launch it as a paper ship onto a large shallow pond.

In Japan, the phrase "launch a boat" means "take a step forward" - and the Nordic pavilion gave visitors a chance to do that. At a computer kiosk, visitors could type in their name and e-mail address and the machine would print the information onto a sheet of paper, fold it into a boat, and finally visitors would then launch their message.

The boat launching served a practical purpose as people's contact details would be collected by the computer, creating an e-mail list of visitors who could then be contacted after the EXPO and continue the conversation.

By sending boats to Scandinavia, visitors took a step towards understanding - and perhaps some day visiting - the Nordic countries. And having given something, visitors also received a keepsake: postcards of Scandinavian scenes that were provided in special-design envelopes.