The Project

Digital pit stops to understand our planet

The Museum of Tomorrow was a unique project. First, because of the experience. We weren't creating a website, app, bot, or game, but rather an in-person experience, taking place inside an extraordinary museum designed by the genius Santiago Calatrava and curated by the brilliant Luiz Alberto Oliveira.

Second, because of the responsibility. The museum's staff includes many of the country's most renowned scientists, and our role was to translate all this scientific content for museum visitors, with light interactions that conveyed the concepts in a light and playful way. Multi-touch screens were positioned throughout the museum with infographics and games related to specific points of the narrative.

The Challenge

The experience of a museum with Tomorrow in its name

The main challenge was adding a layer of content so that the museum's different audiences could quickly and visually delve deeper. The interactions needed to balance information with entertainment. Curator Luiz Alberto Oliveira outlined the issue: "The name Museum of Tomorrow brings great responsibility to the permanent exhibition's interfaces. We can't deliver scientific content in e-book format." Project manager Deca Farroco set the tone for the mission: "The work will be to transform those hundreds of screens into something more interactive and fun."

The Process

Designers & Scientists

The work took a year and a half, spanning research and implementation. First, it was necessary to understand the content structure, then define the navigation structure and the overall elements of the experience. The museum's permanent exhibition was divided into eight cycles, each beginning with a summary of the content written by the panel of scientists. During the meeting, some format ideas emerged, which outracoisa's designers would transform into storyboards over the following two weeks. The storyboards were submitted for approval by the scientists, adjusted, and then evolved into wireframes and scripts, with functional descriptions and step-by-step execution instructions for the 32 Bits team, who would implement the screens. One of the project's hallmarks was the marriage of scientific rigor in the content with the attractiveness and simplicity of the form. Often, form and content needed to be negotiated until the final model was reached. Two science journalists joined us at outracoisa's HQ, which greatly facilitated the dialogue between science and design.

Product Key

Context-appropriate interactions

Users from a wide range of ages and social groups would have to use the interactive kiosks in a unique situation: standing in the middle of a busy environment, with children running around and varying levels of concentration. The context of use and the diversity of personas led us to opt for very short interactions, which teach concepts in a very visual and light-hearted way. Often, the need for in-depth content was met with a counterforce in simplicity.

The Solution

Infogames

The scientific texts were transformed into quick interactions, which we call infogames, something between a game and an infographic. With one or two gestures on the touchscreen, the user understands the concepts of that section of the museum. They could move tectonic plates to understand the emergence of volcanoes. They could cut a sea current to see the climatic consequences in each section. They could manipulate the composition of gases to understand what would happen to the atmosphere if the incidence of a certain component were different.

At a certain point, we realized that the entire user journey throughout the exhibition was consistent, but still lacking a cohesive connection. That's when Daniel Morena, a partner at 32 Bits, came up with the idea of ​​Iris, a character who could guide the visitor through the museum. Iris would follow the user's steps throughout the exhibition using an NFC card, delivering a personalized experience.

Results

Among so many outracoisa's projects, this one stands out because it's impossible to predict what would happen, as the museum didn't yet exist when the infogames were designed. Even with all the effort to anticipate, empathize, plan, and imagine, it's impossible to fully grasp the user experience within a real-world context, with families strolling through the museum and a line of schoolchildren rushing those interacting with the screen. You can feel the magic of the intersection of the digital and physical worlds, where experiences complement each other, heightening perception and the emotions felt in the "ship" of the Museum of Tomorrow.

The Museum had over 3 million visitors in its first three years, and Iris was able to interpret that visitor's greatest concerns are environmental degradation (13%), pollution (11%), and global warming (7%).