Designing Interactive Driven Environments for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History —

Our Process

12 min readNov 2, 2019

Carnegie Mellon University
Designing for Interactions Studio & Lab
Daphne Firos Peters, Kyuha Shim, and Dina El-Zanfaly
Fall 2019

Team | Anna Boyle, Ji Young Ohn, Nandini Nair, & Stefania La Vattiata

Museums play an important role in society, as illustrated by the Smithsonian’s vision “…to engage and to inspire more people, where they are, with greater impact, while catalyzing critical conversation on issues affecting our nation and the world.” Today, many museums are also facing the challenge of transitioning from rigid institutions to experiential and flexible spaces. This is driven by such factors as expanding collections, increased competition for visitors, and visitor expectations for greater engagement. Museums are turning to virtual reality, apps, and interactive experiences to keep tech-savvy visitors engaged.

WEEK 1 | RESEARCH

10.28.19–10.30.19

Initial Discussion

After doing field research at the museum we met as a group to discuss the topic areas we were each individually interested in to develop a narrowing of our ideas to see where our interests aligned.

Understanding the Problem

Exhibits are static
They lack an interactive element
They are very textbase heavy
The scope is often too broad, not intuitive
Outdated very limited interaction to the environment

Proposal Considerations

Experiential Learning & Social Interaction through storytelling
Human Impact — How do we visualize time?
How does the audience feel the impact of time and change of place?
What is something we want our users to take away from the experience?

Intended User

Children (5–12 ) & Guardians/ Family Members
Focusing on Different Journeys through the same experience

The Exhibit/Topic of Interest

Anthropocene
Population Impact
Bird Hall

Interaction & Technology

AR (Site & Hearing) / VR Environment (Immersive) / Timeline
Immersive Experiences
Holograms & Projections

Image courtesy of Museum Boerhaave on the left and Candy Chang on the right.

Week 2 | Research & User Journey

11.04.19 -11.10.19

Identifying the museum stakeholders and values as identified on the museum website below.

“We are intentional about exploring communities to gain an authentic understanding of their needs and drivers.”

The Inherent Worth of Nature

A relationship to the natural world is beneficial to society, boosting mental acuity and creativity, promoting health and wellness and the building of more sustainable communities. Humans are part of the natural world and cannot exist in its absence.

Environmental Advocacy

We are honest and responsible for our actions and how they affect the environment, we share important, scientific information with the general public in a way that they can understand, and we practice stewardship of the natural world. How might the Carnegie Museum of Natural History enable museum visitors to be stewards of the natural world?

Next Steps

User/Visitor Research, Observation of the 3rd Floor, Overall initial experience entering the space.
Employee Research, Identify problem areas with the exhibition space.

Over the course of the last week, our team has been exploring different opportunities where we could show human impact and the relationship of humans with animals. Most recently we have been considering the relationship of animals that are endangered and or extinct and showing how they are connected to a larger system globally and within the museum.

In our 5th visit to the museum, we decided to assign ourselves 4 different animals that we identified have been endangered or at risk and frequently represented. Including a Wolf, Bison, Eagle, Falcon, and Otter.

Through this experience, we were able to understand the common presence of these animals throughout the museum.

We then developed 2 different scenarios based on our research and redefined our user type from one of the research papers presented to the class Understanding Museum Visitors Motivations and Learning, by Dr. John H. Falk. Where he defines Museum-goers in the following 5 categories.

Explorer
Facilitator
Professional Hobbyist
Experience Seeker

We landed on > Explorers

Explorers are visitors who are curiosity-driven with a general interest in the content of the museum. They expect to find something that will grab their attention and fuel their learning. (Falk, pg. 117)

Explorers are individuals with a natural affinity for the subject matter but generally, they are not experts. These visitors enjoy wandering around the museum and ‘bumping’ into new (for them) objects and exhibits. Provide an Explorer with the opportunity for a unique museum experience and you will fulfill his/her need to feel special and encourage him/her to come back for more (Falk, pg. 122).

This direction was derived from 5 different Museum Visits where we observed and spoke with 3 Museum visitors and 5 Museum employees.

Week 4 | Concept Development

11.11.19–11.17.19

Before class Tuesday we refined our two different scenarios and worked through a few prototypes surrounding our interactive human impact touchpoint which landed on a table surface.

In class Tuesday we received additional feedback on our two proposed scenarios from our professors and our classmates on what they found the most interesting and what could be expanded on.

From the feedback we received, these were are main takeaways

How does the user empathizing with animals and human impact
Consider mobile/personalized devises to engage with content
What values do we want to be embedded in the experience
Stewardship? Does this need to be more explicit or do we need to reframe our how might we statement?

After this feedback session, we synthesized our direction and decided to focus on these three values throughout our experience.

Experience Values

Experiential Learning
Relatedness (Rational)
Connectedness (Emotional)

Touchpoints

Entry Point — Human Impact Wall, Onboarding. Download and App type experience
Diorama Experience — Get inside a Diorama
Collecting of animals or artifacts
A reflection table — Reflect on what you have collected during your experience. Wall or projection
End — Make a pledge to protect or donate to a specific animal or habitat in need and have your pledge presented on the entry wall.

Continued Development

After discussing these ideas further our team started to hone in develop our user journey storyboard.

As a team, we decided to move forward with a hexagon-shaped digital screen as the device that will link our user three user experience touchpoints together.

Our user experience was then redefined through three different experiences.

1. Step 1 | Empathy

A. The user enters the Museum and purchases their ticket.

They are then prompted to experience the close relationships that humans have had with animals throughout history. The Hexiguide enables the viewer to see how these relationships have emerged over time.

Birds
Mammals
Insects
Reptiles

B. After selecting their animal, in this case, a bird, the user is then free to move throughout the museum.

However, when they come into contact with specific dioramas that is associated with their animal category they are prompted with a Haptic Nudge, vibration or push.

◼️ Touch

C. As the user walks through the museum they come into contact with dioramas that are associated with their category.

This interaction is specific to the animal that was chosen and presents the visitor with specific facts that may not be familiar to them at first glance. This information is presented to them through text.

◼️ Touch

◼️ Sight

◼️ Sound — Buzz or Ping

⭐️ Experiential Learning
⭐️ Multi-Sensory

2. Step 2 | Understand

A. Interactive Learning Table

After completing the user journey the user is prompted to interact with an interactive table that shows the different animals and species that they interacted with and the history of that species within humanity.

The user is encouraged to place their object on the table and see how their object interacts within a larger ecological system In addition to the human impacts associated with their specific animals.

◼️ Touch

◼️ Sight

B. Multiple Users

Multiple users are able to place their objects on the table and see where relationships associated with human impact may be relevant.

◼️ Touch

◼️ Sight

◼️ Sound?

The user learns about the positive human actions that could counteract the negative impacts.

3. Step 3 | Action

A. End of the journey the gap between the Carnegie Museum of Art and Carnegie Museum Natural History

At the end of the journey, the user comes into contact with a kiosk where they are able to then return their Hexiguide object.

B. Participation

The user is then prompted to participate in the collective action wall by taking a selfie with their selected animal.

After their photo has been taken, they are prompted to add their voice into the I-Plan — — I Wish Statement.

After this form has been submitted the user's photos are presented on the large collective action wall.

C. Action

The after the collection action wall image has been transferred to the wall the user receives a printed card item with there animal plus proposed actions to take away with them.

◼️ Touch

◼️ Sight

Week 5 | Visual Design Decisions & Prototype

11.20.19–11.27.19

Over the last week, our team has worked on developing a clear and concise storyline between our three refined touchpoints as well as developing a brand and visual language and identity system for our future museum experience called “LINK”.

We were able to also do a rough film cut for our concept last Saturday at the Museum. Gaining a better understanding of how feasible this actually would be.

During this week we also did some user testing to decide the orientation of the hexiguide and what the easiest position would be to hold and swipe. Since this is not a standard device shape, this helped us determine where to put the navigational elements. We ultimately decided to put the buttons on the bottom left and right because it felt more natural to tap and swipe with one hand.

Through additional synthesizing of our ideas in addition to the feedback, we received from our peers and the Becca Shreckengast the Director of Exhibition Experience we refined our three touchpoints as.

The LINK Story Guide (Hexiguide)
The LINK Reflection Table
The LINK Kiosk & Collective Wall

Visual Identity Explorations

After doing our first video shoot we worked as a group to develop some ideas around brand identity. Images of some of our logo explorations and brand identity inspiration here from our Pinterest Board.

Week 6 | Visual Design Decisions, Refining Our Concept

12.02.19–12.09.10

Over the course of the last week of our project, we finalized our UI and physical touchpoints and put everything into production.

Ultimately, LINK explores the relationships between humans and the natural world and helps visitors see and understand these connections in the ecosystem while giving them the opportunity to reflect on how human actions can make a difference and that working together is a collective effort.

We believe that providing visitors with access to this type of information through a personal handheld device will give them the opportunity to connect to the natural world in ways they wouldn’t see otherwise.

If given the opportunity to develop this concept further we would welcome the opportunity to more in-depth research to discovering deeper connections between humans and our natural world in relation to the museum and it’s current collection.