Pip Shea | UX Designer | Previous work

My work

ACMI: Designing interactive labels

The brief

Design a digital label which presents a multitude of objects in a case in the exhibition on an interactive screen

The solution

An 'collectable' interactive label design in which guests can select, enlarge and learn more

UX methods

Observational research, competitor research, wirefaming, mid-fi prototyping, usability testing

Deliverables

Mid-fi wireframes and prototypes

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ACMI is a museum dedicated to showcasing the moving image and is located in Melbourne, Australia. The museum is home to a collection of film, television, interactives and videogames.

ACMI reopened its doors in February 21' after 2 years of a complete building redevelopment. There was a digital transformation in this renewal, which meant incorporating interactive digital labels into the exhibition.

Everything in ACMI's centrepiece exhibition, The Story of the Moving Image has a label or at least a credit attached to it.

There are hundreds of works on display. Some of these works are encased in cabinets for which they need labels.

Key outcomes:

Increase visitor engagement with the artworks on display and the Lens by

Providing a deeper understanding of the artworks through interactive elements
Providing all essential artwork data
Enhancing the overall visitor experience

I needed to create labels for all these objects

One of the many cabinets filled with objects inside the exhibition

The labels are housed in these casings

Background

Key Requirements

Small objects need to be magnified

We have many smaller objects in the cabinets, which visitors won't be able to get up close to, so the ability to enlarge images is important.

Limit dwell time and allow visitors to see what they want in short interactions

We have lots of visitors and large amounts of objects and content, so we wanted to limit the features of the labels, so we can give a rich experience minus too much dwell time.

No scrolling interactions

The screen we had wasn't highly sensitive to touch, so we had to adjust the interactions in light of these limitations.

Remind visitors they can collect a label with their Lens

Everything in ACMI's centrepiece exhibition is collectable with the Lens; a hand-held device which allows you to collect your favourites in the exhibition to then later explore online.

We must include object credits

These are typically no more than 3 lines and does not need hierarchy.

The process

Research

There are not a lot of interactive label examples in Melbourne galleries, however there is one close by the ACMI office. I went to the Arts Centre to see the free permanent exhibition, The Australian Music Vault.

I observed other visitors interacting with it and one of the developers who came along with me.

I engaged with members of the curatorial team to understand their needs and constraints and an eternal developer brought on to assist our team during the renewal period.