As a part of my Independent Study (SI 691) at the University of Michigan School of Information (UMSI), I explored how to enhance visitor engagement and art literacy in large museum spaces.
Museums often present navigational challenges, and visitors have diverse interests and learning styles. My project aimed to address this by creating an interactive, "interfaceless" wayfinding solution. The result was MoA (Museum of Art) – an installation concept that uses gesture-based interaction to provide personalized museum tours and information, moving beyond traditional maps and mobile apps. The demo is available to try here.
Research
Understanding the visitor experience was crucial. My research phase involved several methods to uncover pain points and opportunities:
- Literature Review: Explored existing theories on participatory design in museums, "interfaceless" interactions, and exhibition modeling.
- Informal Interviews: Conducted 10 guerrilla interviews with visitors at the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) to understand their motivations, confusion points, and how they currently navigate and interpret art.
- Key findings included a desire to expand knowledge, difficulties with abstract art, and a notable absence of mobile phone use while exploring exhibits.
- Survey Deployment: Designed and distributed a survey (29+ responses) using Google Forms to map casual visitor interests (e.g., preferred historical eras, genres) to specific art themes and museum sections.
- Data Analysis: Utilized Python scripts to analyze survey data, identifying correlations between visitor preferences and potential wayfinding paths. This revealed discrepancies between curated selections and genuine visitor curiosity. This can be used by curators to gather insights on the
Ideation
Based on research insights, the ideation phase focused on creating an engaging and intuitive experience:
- Explored various interaction models, including a matrix map of sensory inputs against museum journey stages. Initial ideas included hoppable floor projections and gamified elements like treasure hunts.
- A "Time Traveler" theme emerged as a compelling narrative framework for the interactive questionnaire.
- Narrowed down to a single concept: MoA, an interactive projection-based exhibit using hand gestures. The system would ask users a few questions to determine their "art persona" and then provide a personalized, themed map/guide.
- Considered different physical outputs, evolving from bingo cards to concepts like a mini-book or a 3D foldable map, finally settling on translucent sheets corresponding to user personas.
Design & Prototype
A web-based high-fidelity prototype demonstrating the interactive questionnaire and persona generation is available: Live Demo
The codebase for the prototype can be found here GitHub Repo
Design System
Accessibility Concerns
From the outset, the project aimed to explore more equitable and intuitive ways for visitors to engage with museum content. The "interfaceless" gesture-based approach was conceived to:
- Reduce reliance on screens or personal devices, which not all users may have or wish to use.
- WCAG AA compliance for the design system
- The design aimed to cater to varied learning and engagement styles by personalizing the experience.
Further development would involve testing with users with diverse accessibility needs to refine the gesture controls and information presentation.
Projection Schematic
Reflection
What went well?
Firstly, I would like to thank my professor and mentor, Elena Godin, for guiding me effectively through different roadblocks in the project and also providing me with resources to extend this project to UMMA, the art museum. This project allowed me to explore engaging and fun ways to explore a museum through insights and design while utilizing user research, data analysis, and software development.
What could be improved?
A potential point of improvement would be testing it in UMMA's exhibit in a real place for which this exhibit was designed
What possibilities emerge?
This has opened up possibilities for me in exhibition space, as this was very well received in the exposition held by UMSI, for being a fun and engaging exhibit that interested users and provided the curators with data collection.