Responsibilities
- Interaction design
- Prototyping
- Testing and evaluation
ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) is a museum dedicated to the art and history of film, television, digital media, and video games, located in Melbourne, Australia. In 2019 they embarged on a $40 million renewal of their museum experience to in part showcase new innovations in moving image technology.
ACMI partnered with Second Story/ Razorfish to upgrade their 10-year-old exhibition "Screen Worlds" by creating an open and welcoming environment. We took the lead on the exhibition design and experience facet of the renewal, taking into consideration the general public, the tourism market, and the education and industry audiences. An exciting innovation on the guest experience was the Lens, an object given to each visitor that they use to collect favorite items around the museum with a tap, save their personal creations at “maker moments” in the gallery, and discover personalized connections to learn more about the world of screen culture online after they leave the museum.
Through the lens, visitors extend their experience and deepen the breadth of their engagement with ACMI’s curatorial staff through multiple channels in the museum and online.
Impact
ACMI opened and introduced the Lens to the public in 2021. As the #1 most-visited moving image museum in the world, ACMI offers 1.5 million annual visitors a year a personal and memorable way to explore the exhibit.
Overview
While the dedicated project team focused on refining the holistic visitor experience inside the main gallery, I was brought on to support the team with ideation and prototyping of the object visitors would use to collect their favorites around the museum to later retrieve online. I worked for about a month on the project, navigating conceptual possibilities inside the problem space, narrowing possibilities by testing low-fidelity prototypes and shooting videos to demonstrate how visitors might interact with it at various points on their journey. We presented four options to ACMI stakeholders, outlining our findings related to users’ initial perceptions, ease of use and feasibility of manufacturing at scale.
Challenges
Keep it light
The object should be lightweight, durable and let guests guests freely explore the museum space without being a hindrance in their hands.
Conceptually relevant
The object’s form should conceptually lie within the world of the moving image. An aesthetically appealing design should attract guests and generate desire to take the object at the start of their journey.
Manufacture at scale
The objects must be embedded with an RFID rag, so designs should consider the complexities and cost of mass production on a museum’s budget.
We wanted to make object-enabled encounters with the moving image compelling enough to extend engagement inside and outside the gallery.
How might we...
- architect deeper immersion in the museum through a physical interaction
- commemorate experience with a memento
- encourages post-visit engagement online
- design a digital tool to feel artisan and handscrafted
Background: The visitor journey
I started by mapping an understanding of when, where and how visitors might use the object in their journey through the museum gallery.
Pick up a personal object
An onboarding station at the gallery entrance dispenses an object with an interactive simulation letting visitors “test drive” how to collect items throughout the museum.
Collect, create & save in the gallery
Equipped with their object, visitors collect their favorites and save unique creations they make at interactive “maker moments,” for later viewing online.
Should they choose, visitors could visit the ACMI website after the trip, enter a unique code printed on the object and retrieve a record of their visit as well as personalized recommendations of other pathways to explore the world of the moving image.
Maker moment in the Foley room, where visitor arrange their own soundtrack to video clips.
Initial concepts
To evaluate early ideas, I made three conceptual prototypes to test out functionality, usability and feasibility of manufacturing at scale.
1. Astrolabe
An astrolabe, a beautiful instrument designed for navigating the universe, inspires this concept of a magical object for navigating the curious world of the moving image.
A unique shape and multiple layers of material impart the essence of a man-made technology, and provides a shape-shifting surface suitable for projection, revealing, and storytelling.
Learned from prototyping
- The concept leans into the idea of a navigational device, but visitors’ main goal of the object was a “collection box” with wayfinding more readily satisfied by signage around the museum.
- The moving image that’s revealed when users rotate the object’s top layer is delightful, but the payoff is limited to a one-time delight.
- The object involves several layers secured with a central post in order to rotate. The multi-part, multi-material construction complicates and increases cost to manufacture at scale.
2. Hexaflexagon
A hexaflexagon is a geometric paper toy that can be flexed and folded to reveal different faces or sides. As a scientific curiosity that visualizes something new with movement over time, its connection to the moving image lies in the mechanics used to tell a story through a series of images.
When visitors enter the gallery, they begin their journey by folding their personal hexaflexagon from a strip of material on display, priming them for more “maker moments” throughout.
Learned from prototyping
- In order to guests to willingly make their object at the start of their journey, they must believe the benefit of their effort is undeniable and isn’t merely geared toward young audiences.
- Pre-assembled hexaflexagons as an alterantive to DIY increase unit cost.
- It’s not clear how RFID tags can be embedded to a foldable object without introducing the risk to damage and non-functionality that detracts from the visitor’s experience.
- Hexaflexagon don’t evoke the 2D rigid objects people typically tap to transact.
3. Slide
A slide of celluloid film--small enough to fit in your pocket but powerful enough to alter spaces and tell stories at room scale. This concept adopts the retro magic of a View Master as an object to revisit memories.
Visitors take a flat object printed on transparent film + acrylic housed in a branded economical frame.
Learned from prototyping
- In order to guests to willingly make their object at the start of their journey, they must believe the benefit of their effort is undeniable and isn’t merely geared toward young audiences.
- Pre-assembled hexaflexagons as an alternative to DIY increase unit cost.
- Potentially challenging to embed RFID tags in a foldable object without non-functionality from folding/ damage, which negatively impacts the visitor’s experience.
Concept refinement: prototyping interactions
With ACMI’s direction, we moved ahead with the Slide concept, renamed “the Lens.” To illustrate different ways users could interact with it, I prototyped how it might (1) reveal, (2) collect and (3) continue visitors’ encounter with the moving image.
Visual system flow + wireframes
To visually communicate with clients and design partners about how the digital and physical displays respond to the dial UI, I drafted a branching system flow. This illustrated how people could navigate and view content in different modes.
A set of high-fidelity wireframes allowed us to interactive prototype the flow and evaluate the perceived synchronization and functionality of connected physical and digital components.
The Lens reveals
At the entrance to each thematic zone in the gallery, visitors find curatorial signage and a projection station where they can use their lens to trigger one of many motion animated “trailers” that overlay and augment printed graphics. Visitors get to roleplay as film operator and engage more deeply with the curatorial context.
The Lens collects
At the entrance to each thematic zone in the gallery, visitors find curatorial signage and a projection station where they can use their lens to trigger one of many motion animated “trailers” that overlay and augment printed graphics. Visitors play the role of a film projector operator and engage more deeply with the curatorial context.
The Lens continues
Selecting Explore displays a menu of locations grouped by type (Entertainment, Cultural Attractions, etc) from which users select an option.
Explore, collect and discover with a simple tap of your personal token.
Outcome
In place of an app that requires effort and preparation from guests upfrom, the digitally connected Lens lets museum guests fully engage with the galleries and fully remember their experience. Additionally, ACMI curators equipped with visitor data glean what interests them to inform future programming.
By removing barriers to entry for personalization and further learning, the Lens is a valuable user-friendly object that empowers anyone interested to explore the magic of the moving image
