Paired Issue Study - Ayuka Shichinohe & Claudia Page

Paired Issue Study

Interactive and educational display strategies

Ayuka Shichinohe & Claudia Page

Ayuka:

When designing a display or exhibit, it’s important to keep the audience in mind. Asking the questions, is the display accessible, is the information presented easy to comprehend, is it giving the right information and is the exhibit engaging.

The audience can be categorized into three categories, streakers, strollers, and studiers. Designers should be familiar with audience and human centered design to “anticipate people’s behaviors, expectations, and abilities. -whether they stop or study for three or three hours” (McNeil).

I had the opportunity to visit Roto, an exhibit design company and an experienced custom fabrication firm and help out with their exhibit prototype analysis with 5th graders from Ridgewood Elementary School. There I got to see the students interact with and give feedback on the future exhibit Roto is creating. The students received little to no instructions on how to use the displays and minimal assistance while using the display so we could observe if the design was intuitive, engaging, and educational.

First prototype the students tested out was the Safety Gear Game. This interactive game was to promote and educate users with proper safety gear when engaging in activities such as skateboarding, snowboarding, roller skating etc. The game was a large screen that users could touch to select their character, the activity they want to do, and selecting an arrangement of safety gear, good and bad, to test if they got the items right or not. From observing their interaction, the students immediately touched and looked through all the options to select from. They were excited and started forming creative solutions with their classmates. The students however did not read the instruction page nor the explanation paragraphs on the screen.

Another prototype the students got to test was the Magical Book. This was a huge book, about 5ft by 3ft with three page spreads that were blank pieces of paper. A projector from above projected the page content that sensors all around would pick up users touching and turning the page that made the content on the page move. There was imagery of fishes swimming across the page, pictures users could touch and flips to give more information, words users could select to learn how it is said in different languages, stories that were read out loud. The students were amazed when they first saw the book. The first few moments were them excited and interacting with the book to figure out how it worked. Once that initial reaction passed, the students were diving deeper into the content that was present to them, reading and being curious about the content on the page.

From this observation, I saw several different personalities and interests and their methods of approaching a display. More introverted students would observe and understand the display first and interact with the display when encouraged by someone else. Outgoing students would dive right in, touching every interface, and be attracted to big, bright, colorful, moving elements. Some students lose interest quickly when some read every word on the display. Younger students, and even adults, learn most from play and physical interaction. If the user isn’t having fun, the display will not be approached and used. The “wow” factor is also important to get the audience excited, curious for more and fully immerse them into the experience.

Using what I learned from this experience and learning about Roto’s approach to exhibit and display strategies, there are a lot of design elements that need to be considered to create an effective display. Starting from understanding the space the exhibit will be housed. Using the space to its advantage and the context around the location of the exhibit. The location could also affect the type of audience to market towards and cater towards their interest and culture. The marketing for the plan pre, during and post experience is also important so the customers can feel excited and welcomed going to the exhibit, engaging content to keep the customers interested throughout the whole exhibit experience and finally the customers taking away a positive, memorable experience when they exit the exhibit.

From a review session with my attempt at an exhibit design of an educational outdoor playground, I learned that ada accessibility needs to be considered. Especially with full body physical attractions, catering to all needs with different options that does not separate the user from others needs to be designed. Also keeping in mind, an exhibit aimed for younger audiences usually has a parent or adult figure with them. Creating a space for the parents, with their child or a space away from their child but feel comfortable being away from their child.

Now with new, improving technology and more research about human centered design these issues and concerns of interactive and educational display strategies are constantly evolving for a better, creative, more accessible experience for all.

McNeil, Timothy J. <> Exhibition and Experience Design Handbook. Rowman & Littlefield, 2023.

Claudia:

Interactive exhibits go beyond traditional display techniques to offer a more immersive and engaging experience for viewers. They also typically exist to educate the audience using modern technologies, and they appeal to senses beyond just sight. Sound, tangible objects, smells, and even taste are all in the realm of possibilities for interactive displays. There are a few criteria for a successful interactive exhibit. Similarly to traditional exhibits, it needs to grab people’s attention, and it needs to do so quickly. It should only take seconds for the viewer to at least have a basic understanding of the theme of the exhibit. As the viewer engages with the space, that idea that’s being communicated should become even clearer. As Ayuka mentioned, knowing your audience and catering to them is vital. In interactive exhibits, grabbing people’s attention is more of a slippery slope, as you need to make the space more engaging, but don’t want to overstimulate the viewer. When making an exhibit interactive, those elements should encourage the viewer to explore and experience the space freely. It should also allow multiple people to do this at once, and potentially even interact with each other as they do so. One element that may be overlooked is practicality: they should be easy to turn on and off and have people on standby in case any technological issues arise (Will). The rise of Virtual Reality can also elevate viewer experience within a physical exhibit, but also allow people to have a similar experience within the comfort of their own home.

One instance where I find interactive / educational displays particularly effective are exhibits about climate change. “FUTURE WORLD: Where Art Meets Science” is a permanent exhibit at the ArtScience Museum in Singapore. It opened in 2016 in conjunction with the museum’s fifth anniversary. “FUTURE WORLD” is a whopping 1,500 square meter (approximately 16,145 square feet) fully immersive digital playground (Panasonic).

The experience begins with the viewer engrossed in glowy flowers displayed through projectors and videos on all four walls, as well as the floor. The flowers bloom and disappear to visually show their natural life cycle. This is a great opening to the exhibit because it provides a simple yet beautiful and stimulating experience where viewers of any age can understand the general theme of the exhibit instantly.

Another part of the exhibit, and in my opinion the most effective, is an even larger scale animated diorama that depicts a 100 year time lapse of the future’s rising sea levels as a result of climate change. The World Wildlife Foundation worked closely with the museum and the installation company to create a realistic simulation (Panasonic). When standing in front of these five giant projectors, the viewer can truly feel the effects of these rising sea levels, but still in a way that is visually appealing to adults and children.

While all areas of the exhibit are engaging for children visually and educate them on the changes happening on earth, there is another portion specifically catered towards kids. This part was intended to invite children to learn through play. The projections in this area look more juvenile, partly due to the fact that they actually project scans of drawings the visitors create right inside of the room. The exhibit also features a few other rooms that are less morbid but still reflect nature, such as a realistic projection of a waterfall and a virtual aquarium room. Interactive exhibits like these are a great way to introduce children to these ideas in a way that is very fun, but also beneficial to their learning and growth. These types of displays, due to their unavoidable in-your-face nature, are extremely powerful in sending messages about important topics such as climate change. FUTURE WORLD checks off all of the boxes for a successful, educational, visually appealing, and engaging interactive display.