PRODUCT Design
2023
Immersive experience at VnA.
Project Abstract
Immersive Augmented reality (AR) experience to enhance museum storytelling and visitor engagement.
The project addressed common challenges in museum visits, such as lack of interaction and declining attendance due to the pandemic. Through research, ideation, and iterative design, I developed AR-based features like "Chapters" and "Living Cartoons," which bring artworks to life and deepen visitor connection to historical narratives. User testing confirmed the effectiveness of this approach, resulting in a more engaging and educational experience for museum visitors, particularly young adults.
Year : 2023
Duration : 6 Months.
Tools : Figma, Miro, Photoshop, After Effects.
MY ROLE
I was responsible for conducting end-to-end research, identify the opportunity and ideate potential solution to create the best possible experience for museums.
BACKGROUND
Museums are places where artifacts tell stories, helping to explain and highlight historical human experiences.
But there are several challenges with the current museum experience that can negatively impact the visitor's experience.
These include a lack of interaction and personalization, a lack of opportunities for debate, and a perception of the museum as being dull and monotonous. The pandemic has also led to a significant decrease in the number of people visiting museums.
Opportunity
Museums struggle to engage visitors with static, un-interactive exhibits, leading to disengagement, especially among younger audiences.
We believe that an immersive, interactive solution is needed to enhance the visitor experience and make learning more engaging and fun.
Solution
Visualizing story-living narration for Museums using Augmented Reality.
By adopting new trends and technologies, such as immersive and interactive experiences, museums can improve the visitor experience and increase traffic.
ONBOARDING
Getting the feel of the experience
Onboarding was crucial to get users hooked from the second they land on this experience. The 3 onboarding screens give the perfect overview of what to expect and the how-to glance of the AR experience.
experience A
Chapters
Chapter, the AR based feature lets you experience and view 'the story of the painting', sequentially right from its inception simply by pointing the phone at the artwork.
experience B
Living cartoons
The Explore Cartoon feature uses Augmented Reality (AR) by allowing the viewer to see the characters in the artwork come to life. Additionally, the feature includes a tap-and-zoom option, enabling the user to examine the painting in detail without having to get close to it.
Design approach
Using Design Thinking to understand user needs and Lean methodology for structured testing, I quickly developed and refined creative solutions over a 3-month timeline.
Leveraging the power of design thinking with Lean methodology in the process.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Wait! Who is this for?
People, typically in the age group between 18 to 22 who may find the existing museum experience boring but are fascinated to learn about the historical stories / significance.
Qualitative understanding
Goal was to understand visitor engagement and preferences in museums, identify challenges with current exhibits, and explore opportunities for creating more interactive and immersive experiences.
Ethnography Research
research findings
Visitors prefer interactive experiences and spend little time on static artifacts, with many leaving before exploring everything.
75 secs
Average time spent by users on an artefact.
75%
Users seemed to be excited to try interactive simulations.
35%
Users left the room without looking at all artefacts.
20%
Users needed a break and sat on the sofa.
USER INTERVIEWS AND QUICK VOX
Interviews revealed that visitors prefer story-driven, visual content for better engagement and retention, but faced challenges with interface clarity and organization.
After 3 unsuccessful attempt to conduct interviews, 11 quick vox interviews were conducted of the prospective target users on the doorstep and inside the museum to gain insights about their feelings and experience, interests and understanding about technology.
Five one-to-one interviews were also conducted with museum visitors to gather information about their motivations for visiting and their expectations.
60%
Users found a story-based experience was more effective for retaining knowledge.
~75%
Users preferred visuals over long-descriptive texts.
~50%
Users were motivated to learn about different culture and history.
2 persona
Analyzed based on their motivations and objectives.
PERSONAS
Rechargers [Lucy Woodgear]
Rechargers attend the museum to 'get away from it all,' to decompress, and their experience is almost spiritual. They are self-sufficient and avoid crowds or sensations.
Explorers [Aaron Jones]
Explorers come because museums capture their attention and pique their curiosity. They do not have specific learning objectives, but they enjoy learning new things. The purpose of explorers is to fulfil their curiosity.
SYNTHESIZED POINT OF VIEW
Lucy Woodgear seeks a calm, immersive museum experience that offers deep, meaningful storytelling. Aaron Jones looks for engaging, interactive exhibits that satisfy his curiosity and provide cultural insights.
USER STORIES
Nine open user stories were created to provide a general idea of the desired features and functions without specifying the exact feature.
This approach allowed for the generation of a range of ideas that could be turned into features and helped to identify the most effective solution to the user's problem.
how might we sentences
Keeping user goal, stories and research in mind, 4 distinct HMW challenges were derived and brainstormed on.
design rationale
Augmented Reality (AR) was selected for its cost-effectiveness and accessibility, making it more practical for enhancing museum experiences compared to Virtual Reality (VR).
The listeners should feel their presence in the story and visualize the environment giving the feel of being in the spot. Pictures worth 1000 words, does AR/VR/MR worth 1000 pictures? It is worth's more than that! VR/AR adds an additional component that makes the experience special we say it as ‘sensation’
01.
Preliminary Choice
VR was identified as a desirable medium for this experiment
02.
Half-way through the process
Issues of VR for this topic was identified. Cost effectiveness and sufficient inventory for the calculated demand was the concern.
03.
The ideal choice
Implementing AR technology for the purpose was realized to be sound potential with its tendency to be accessible to everyone with a phone.
TO-BE USER JOURNEY
Visitor journeys differ by motivation, with success relying on smooth onboarding and minimal app download hassle.
The journey of both personas is quite distinct till the Discovery stage. The main motivation to turn to museum was due to external factors like fair cost of attendance, proximity of venue, influence of friends and groups. The rhythm and success of entire journey depends on two parameters: An articulated physical and digital onboarding experience and nuisance of downloading a new application.
The HYPOTHESIS STATEMENTS
We hypothesize that enhancing museum experiences with augmented reality will increase engagement and knowledge retention among younger visitors.
IDEATION
Let's Brainstorm!
A series of ideation techniques were used to create different ideas. Rapid idea generation technique, 6-up technique to derive ideas and NUF test to filter them based on their uniqueness, usefulness and feasibility.
6-up technique was used to develop the initial design and service plan of the Augmented reality experience for Raphael's cartoon.
The service flow includes 3 touchpoints : physical entry, digital onboarding, and engaging with augmented reality experiences.
Physical Interaction - Interactions involving steps right from entering the premises to starting the web experience.
Digital Interaction - Interactions involving steps from onboarding the digital experience to AR page.
Augmented Reality Experience - Steps involving experience of AR.
design
Sketching it out.
Based on the data and findings, sketching out the idea in a more systematic manner was the next step. Paper prototype for the given experience was created.
Keeping the service flow and paper prototype as foundation for this exploration, I envisioned how would Lucy navigate through the digital experience journey.
Inspirations for the visuals were taken from sources and systems which spoke the language of renaissance. The colour scheme was derived to give a calm yet historic feel to the aesthetics and usage of the app.
user testing
Hi-Fidelity prototype was evaluated using formative assessment technique, specifically a think-aloud protocol called the "5 Act interview with 4 users.
Users appreciated the engaging AR feature and visual design, but found the homepage unclear, the timeline confusing, and had difficulty locating the "Map" feature.
100%
Users found the AR feature to be extremely engaging, new and helpful. Also, they felt the language toggle was extremely important for wide accessibility.
75%
Users loved the visual aspects of the entire system.
75%
Users felt that home page was not clear and lacked accountability of its purpose. Also, Timeline page was confusing for them.
100%
Users had difficulty finding the "Map" feature in the AR experience.
Iterating the 3 major pages based on user feedback.
FINAL DESIGNS
Time to immerse into reality
Ultimately, the ideas and iterations led to the final prototype. Keeping the vibe and colors true to the historic era, the end product which started as a speculative design seemed like an experience and experiment that people didn’t know they wanted until it was shown to them.
looking back
My Reflections
The combination of design thinking and lean user experience (UX) design allowed to create a product that was tested and validated through user feedback, and that had a reduced risk of failure from a business perspective.
At first, it seemed more plausible to create a virtual environment for the museum that could be accessed from the comfort of one's own home. But after further stages of research, it was evident that the proposed AR solution was much more feasible, cost effective and user friendly.
