Client: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
The Challenge:
Transform the visitor experience in Q?rius, the teen innovation space.
The Outcome:
Visitor engagement has improved, in every metric measured.
Through your creativity, tenacity and commitment to great visitor experience, you have inspired and challenged us to work harder, think bigger and appreciate the value of good design in everything we do. You have left your signature on some of the museum’s most successful activities and programs, and you have helped us communicate our work more clearly than we ever could have without you.
The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History is one of the most-visited museums in the world, and Q?rius is the museum’s experiential learning center, with 6,000 objects and seven learning areas. Opened in 2013, this beautiful space is one of the very few designed for a teen audience. Unfortunately, the self-guided exhibits were failing to engage visitors. My role was to work with scientists and staff to transform the user experience.
Design
Natural history science is challenging to communicate in a self-guided format. New discoveries are made based on years of study and field work. Visitors were not going to be ‘discovering’ a new species of human. How could we convey a sense of wonder and excitement – if the ‘answers’ were pre-determined?
I ran many brainstorming sessions to answer this question – collaborating with teams of scientists, educators, teen volunteers and visitors. We found that relevance was key. For an activity about a ‘Mystery Skull’, I tested using a height chart to convey the final clue. Visitors could stand next to the chart and make the connection between the skull in their hand and the full skeleton of the 8-yr old boy found in Kenya a million years earlier. We looked for similar connection points across activities, and visitor engagement improved significantly. Our design process helped us connect with empathy and meaning, across diverse science disciplines.
Fabrication
Q?rius is all about encouraging visitors to hold and experience objects, which is demanding on the objects themselves. In the fabrication process, I focused on durability – figuring out how to tie bones down and recast skulls in materials that could stand up to constant use. I made viruses, tested materials, and worked with printers and exhibit fabricators to improve durability. I made prototypes of all signage using Photoshop and Illustrator and then worked with a graphic designer to get them ready for printing. These interactives have performed better and have held up under constant handling for more than a year and a half.
Assessing Results
I led assessment of visitor engagement in Q?rius both before the new activities and after. Before the redesign, we learned that many visitors were not even stopping to attempt activities, and those that did stop were not completing activities as designed.
After the redesign, the data showed that the new activities outperform the older ones on every measure (see image). Visitors are not only having fun, but are engaged in using science skills, learning about the research happening at the museum, and gaining an appreciation for different fields of natural history.
To learn more about the activity development process, please see Resolving an Epidemic.
