Research
We started out by doing interviews with the Burke staff to see what is currently working and to determine where the pain points lie within the museum. Our team interviewed the Collections Manager of Oceanic Ethnographic Collections. I and one other teammate led the interview and the other two took detailed notes. We gathered a variety of data but one piece we focused on was that the Burke museum wanted to reach out to a broader audience and find more ways to engage kids (especially middle school aged kids).
Additionally, we went out to different museums to see how they implemented different interactive ideas. |
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Ideation
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After we discovered some main pain points of the museum, we combined our research with the other teams and came up with various ideas for the museum. Afterwards, we decided to further develop the role-playing scavenger hunt idea for kids.
Kids love to play pretend so the idea was to make them "junior scientists", complete with props such as a lab coat and clipboard. They could then run around completing their own "research". When the kids complete their "research", they would earn a certificate naming them a "Burke Junior Scientist". |
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Storyboards |
To explore how a child might navigate through the museum as a little scientist, each team member created a storyboard to explore the interaction between the museum staff and the child. I did the storyboard focusing on when the child first enters into the museum. The idea was to keep it simple and have the front desk introduce the option that the child could become a "Burke Junior Scientist" today.
This person would then set the scene, using stories about what their role is and how actual scientists do work by exploring, asking questions, being curious, and so on. They would be given a lab coat and clipboard with the instructions they need to follow and be on their way to completing their tasks. |
1st Prototype
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Initially, we took a fairly standard scavenger hunt approach. We took the current Burke museum map, made it larger and added numbers that corresponded with the questions on the other side. The Burke museum's own research stated that dinosaurs and the natural world section of the museum is generally a kid favorite but it is the Pacific culture's section that the museum struggles with kid engagement.
So our team went through the museum to fully explore what was currently on display and creating questions based on finding facts and interacting with objects throughout the museum. We included one sketching question and two questions that encouraged kids to interact and ask questions to the researchers and artists currently at work. The artist question was catered to the fact that traditional carvers were currently showcasing their work the day the user test took place. When a child finishes one section of the museum, the idea was that they would get a sticker. Once they had all of their required stickers, they would earn their certificate. This prototype was put together keeping in mind that adults would be there to help the kids if needed. We are running under the assumption that parents and guardians will constantly be available to help kids when they are working on completing the scavenger hunt. |
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User Test |
I am a Polish scout leader for young kids, so I had the opportunity to plan a group outing to the museum. We tested our team prototype to see what worked and what needed improvement. Kids between the ages of 4-12 took part in this test. I not only looked for what needed to be changed within the scavenger hunt but also observed what the kids struggled with when trying to find all the information. Here are some of the main points that were gathered:
Using this user test data we added reference points to the map. There were no particular issues with the questions, except for the hula goddess one since the information was displayed a bit differently so it was harder to find and the sketching questions because the kids did not bother to read the display. Outside of the scavenger hunt, some potential suggestions for the museum are:
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Critique |
After the user test, we had a critique session with our entire research group and a few members of Burke museum staff.
During the critique session some of the concerns that arose were that the questions were too wordy for kids and whether it was too long but based off the user test the questions were fine for kids ages 6 and up and the parents would be there to help them. The museum staff also clarified that the majority of the new museum will be windows showing behind-the-scenes work, not just permanent displays like what we focused on. The museum wants to encourage kids to expand their minds and creativity by having them answer more open-ended questions so they build critical thinking skills and not just gather facts when they visit the Burke. We discussed the idea of having three different levels for kids to cater to the reading and writing levels of different kids. We also discussed if stickers were a possibility at all. We wondered who would give the stickers out. Initially the idea was for researchers and interpreters to give stickers throughout the museum but then we deemed it simpler to just have the front desk give out the stickers for completed sections. Our final prototype removed the sticker aspect and just focused on the certificate. Since the museum displays will be rotating a lot, particularly the behind-the-scenes work, it was important for the scavenger hunt to be quickly adjustable. |
Final Prototypes |
These were our final prototypes. Our team decided to go with two versions of the scavenger hunt, one that was short and focused on fact finding and sketching for kids ages 4-5 and the other which had more open-ended questions for ages 6 and up. Both versions had the same second page which had the kids interacting with at least one researcher, had them looking through the hidden boxes in one museum section, and drawing out their favorite find and for them to find, label and sketch what their favorite part of the museum was. This page would not need to be changed for the most part since it is general and can apply to whatever is going on in the museum that day.
The front pages will be catered to the chosen permanent displays within the museum. While some displays might rotate often, there will be some that will stay so the questions would not need to be changed either. I worked on the certificate design and the kid-friendly display redesign. I created a T-Rex, raven mask, and magnifying glass graphic to represent the main themes and topics in the museum on the certificate. The display redesign was made to match the theme and colors of our question pages (which are also the theme colors of the Burke). |
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Certificate and Display Design Decisions |
These are the different versions of the certificate and display redesign I worked on. Our team later went through and decided which one worked best for our final prototype.
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