In Their Footsteps
University Project
In Their Footsteps is a way-finding system designed with the aim to address how museums can continue to adopt future technologies to improve the experience of visitors.
Brief
The McManus Gallery and Museum in Dundee provided a speculative brief that placed us 20 years in the future. Technology has progressed allowing every surface to be a screen. How can this technology be leveraged to improve the overall museum experience?
Solution
In Their Footsteps is a navigation system that guides visitors on a customisable, entertaining tour around the museum. A footprint path is displayed to allow visitors to navigate and intuitive foot interactions can be used to personalise the journey further. Crowd-sourced data would be taken from visitors allowing each path to develop and adapt over time.
My Role
To begin the project I visited the McManus Museum to gather insights into common visitor behaviours. The key one being that technology is currently a distraction for visitors, hindering their experience rather than improving it.
Following the initial research, I partnered with fellow Interaction Designer Stephen Macvean. Our initial ideas highlighted the difficulties that visitors face when navigating through the McManus and we set out to address this problem.
We began a range of design exercises in order to visualise our concept, including storyboarding, wire-framing and paper prototyping. This process identified the pain-points within the current journey, allowing us to implement our technology at the correct times.
As a team we then began to mock up the experience using paper prototypes. This gave us the initial structure for how users would interact with an interface located on the floor. We then tested the prototypes with multiple users to gauge whether or not foot interactions could feel natural, and ultimately if they would work in a physical environment.
We then went on to test with ‘Expert Users’. Analysing this feedback we were able to pull create some clear insights that would develop our concept into a stronger and more detailed journey.
Our final outcome was a video that encompasses a complete journey through the McManus. Using the storyboards I had created we planned shot for shot the footage we would need to showcase every interaction through our McManus journey.
Once filmed, the UI was then imposed on the floor using After Effects - our end result aimed to spark the imagination of viewers and bring this concept to life.
Summary
The feedback from lecturers and McManus staff was positive, complimenting us on how well we had translated our insights into a well-polished and attractive final vision of what the future experience in museums may look like.
Applying my design skills to such a future thinking project was extremely exciting. This project also gave me the chance to demonstrate my ability in creating unique experiences for physical spaces.
- Observational skills
- Team Work
- Concept Generation
- Storyboarding
- Wire-Framing
- Rapid Prototyping
- Experience Prototyping
- User Testing
- UI Design
- UX Design
- Video Editing