ico interactives encourage Science Museum visitors to 'Find out more' and 'Tell', in the newly-redesigned 'Who Am I'? gallery.
The Who am I? gallery explores brain science, genetics and human behaviour, and deciphers what they can tell us about our identity. In an effort to create a more appealing and accessible experience for visitors, the ten year-old gallery underwent a complete redesign. ico’s role was to develop a series of interactive facilities to support the exhibits.
Our involvement covered three categories of touch-screen interactives, titled; ‘Find out more’, ‘Tell’ and ‘Updates’. A series of terminals positioned throughout the gallery, that allow visitors to explore gallery subjects in greater depth, read about new developments, give feedback and read the comments of others.
We were asked to restructure content and improve functionality and usability for the existing kiosks. But in addition, we identified a need for an enhanced sense of movement, colour and variety to attract and engage the audience.
The new designs are visually appealing and intriguing, drawing users in with a powerful use of images, graphics and colour. We delivered a greatly improved interface that is clear, intuitive to navigate and easy to browse. Content includes text, images, animations and videos pulled in from the Science Museum databases. In addition, we were commissioned to produce a set of animations, made using original illustrations that were created in-house.
Our total role in producing the Who am I? interactives, included information architecture, design of the look and feel, front-end programming, integration of current and new assets, production of wire frames, storyboards and prototypes, on-site support during installation and ongoing technical support. The Science Museum specifically required that content management be effortless. In collaboration with Eduserve, we integrated with the museum’s own CMS. The terminals are networked to a back-end system that allows Science Museum staff to generate questions and moderate comments if necessary.
