Interactive museum experience for the visually impaired
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Project overview
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Problem
Many museums lack the extensiveness in their exhibits and do not invite, nor allow the user to interact in several ways, which often leads to minor societies neglected.
Goal
The aim of this project is to include the visually impaired people in the museum experience, by addressing senses like hearing and touching. This particular timeline guides the user through the history of Dutch-Indonesia colonization with interactive storytelling landscape.
My role & responsibility
User Researcher
Product designer
Project duration
4 months
As this project demanded particular attention towards the users needs, we had to change our way of perceiving objects by erasing our most common sense of understanding our surroundings. We found creating mind maps useful to explore different aspects of this overlooked area and brainstorm new ideas.
We thought of different ways of how the visually impaired navigate directions and communicate with the world. Then we used multiple methods to generate ideas and added more details as we went.
We used morphological chart to map out our options and generate concepts, combining different ideas and solutions. This was then evaluated and converged into one final concept which needed further experimentation for validations.
To observe user behaviour, we made a rope prototype where we attached different forms and textures. Soft, palpable objects were used for people to touch and squeeze them. We tested if they would be able to provide people hints on what to expect such as the knots inbetween could indicate the change to a new section.
For this prototype, we glued wood pieces of different shapes and textures on a cardboard surface to immitate the timeline. We tested if the patterns were recognizable and if entering a new section was distinguishable.
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As we wanted the experience to work as smoothly as possible, we held multiple testing sessions to select the most suitable option for each parts.
We tested which shape of the buttons and the rims score best for the user, and which font and size of text is the most eye pleasing to read.
We also made sure the aesthetics of the board doesn’t get left out for the sighted.
As I sketched out the visual illustration of the timeline, extra research was proceeded to make sure everything is historically accurate such as the looks of the ship from the time era.
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We combined the senses - hear and touch to enhance the overall museum experience and the user interactivity. User navigates through the story by following the path along the timeline with their hands.
On the path, comes along buttons which trigger audio description about the history. Tactile objects placed throughout the path enable the user to imagine the situation back in time better and be more engaged.
Good design provides opportunities for people from different worlds to enjoy and share the experience together with noone being excluded, whether disabled or not, young or old. Anyone.
