An interactive exhibit exploring the different roles of color in the
natural world, close-up.
My Role: I led the user research and guided the interface refinement in collaboration with the visual UI designers. I also researched and wrote the content for the interactive.
Who I worked with: Senior Content Developer, Exhibit Project Manager, Digital Project Manager, Audio Visual Engineer, Software Developer, Visual UI Designers, Scientific Advisors, Photographer, Director of Exhibit Development.
Design and Development
The intent for this interactive was to allow visitors to experience physical specimens from a natural history museum collection in a new way, utilizing Gigamacro camera technology. Our primary experience goals were to encourage exploration, discovery and delight.
User Research
We put the interactive through four cycles of design, development, and user research. This iterative process ensured that we facilitated a sense of exploration for visitors as they zoomed in and experienced the detailed ‘pin’ content that was available for each specimen.
+ Pin Text location tests
Early iterations made it clear that the pin text needed to appear close to the associated pin icon, despite the downside that it would briefly obscure part of the image; Once the visitors focused on the specimen in the center of the large screen, the side bar fell outside of their cone of vision. In this version, visitors were delighted by the ability to zoom into the images, but they ended up commenting that we should provide more information about specific features, unaware that when they'd pressed the pins, it had triggered the information they wanted.
+ PIN Appearance tests
Later iterations helped us determine when the additional pin content should appear in the zoom. In one version, all pins were displayed upon arrival to the species page. In that version, visitors didn’t zoom and explore as much—they assumed that clicking all the pins was how they were “supposed” to use the interactive, and they often didn’t zoom in enough to see the detail the pin content described. The delight we had seen in the previous versions had vanished.
Revised Approach
We settled on a version with the pins staggered throughout the zoom: if the image was not zoomed in close enough to see the feature being described, the pin for it would not appear. We decided that the risk that visitors would miss many of the pins was lesser than the risk that they wouldn’t truly engage with the specimens.
Content Development
In writing this interactive, I worked with a diverse set of scientists and advisors to put together an engaging set of information and quotes about each specimen. I wrote the content to fit the voice and tone guidelines we had identified for the broader exhibit.
+ Voice and Tone Specs
•Lively, conversational, and approachable.
•Short, active sentences; easy to read in exhibit environment.
•Uses light, confident tone; wit and metaphor to breathe life into language.
•Clever and provocative presentation that aims to ignite discussion.
•Conveys accurate science with wonder and passion
for the natural world.
+ SAMPLE TEXT
Intro
The glory bush is pretty, but it’s also tough. Most pests avoid it, and it’s no shrinking violet about expanding its territory. Zoom in close, and you’ll se e a dense coat of fine hairs covering the plant’s leaves and stems. These hairs probably work as a fuzzy suit of armor, warding off predators that might otherwise take a bite.
Pin 1
Look at the bottoms and tops of these leaves: they differ.
Gravity usually keeps one side of a leaf always facing the sun. Because of this, the two sides have different roles to play, and different challenges to face.
Pin 2
The red pigment here, anthrocyanin, repels insects and may protect against excessive ultraviolet light. It’s on the newer growths, uppermost stems, and leaf margins—
which are the most tender parts of the plant.
Pin 3
All living things need to move nutrients and wastes in and out of their cells. Animals have blood and lymph vessels; plants have xylem and pholem. Living organisms come in many shapes and forms, but we have a lot in common.
Final Design
Final Design
+ Homescreen
A simple, highly visual homescreen engages visitors in a high-choice free learning environment.
+ Zoom Control
Multiple modalities for controlling zoom were critical in order to engage visitors with varying amounts of familiarity with tech.
+ Orientation
A mini map helps visitors remain oriented throughout the zoom.
+ Pin Appearance
Clickable pins appear when the image is zoomed in enough to see interesting features of the organism.
Delight is in the details
The Macro Color interactive is a visitor favorite from the larger Color of Life exhibit where it is situated; both adults and children find it intuitive and engaging to use.
Working on this interactive underscored for me how seemingly small tweaks can make a huge difference to user experience—staggering the pins’ appearance rather than showing them upon arrival changed the tenor of the interactive from a didactic exercise to an exploratory one.
+ Photo Credit Info
Full bleed interactive 1 - © Scott Ross
Full bleed beetles - © Sarah DeAngelis
User research - Sarah Goodin © California Academy of Sciences
Gigamacro grasshopper - Kathryn Whitney © California Academy of Scieces
User research 2 - © Sarah DeAngelis
Gigamacro plant - Kathryn Whitney © California Academy of Sciences
Full bleed child using interactive - © Scott Ross
Gigamacro beetles - Kathryn Whitney © California Academy of Scieces
Gigamacro moth - Kathryn Whitney © California Academy of Scieces