This project was my coursework for my master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction, focusing on mixed reality technologies. I chose the Tate Modern Museum as the subject matter and developed a guidance mobile app for them.
"So You Think You Can Make Art?" is a locative AR experience that enables participants to digitally create artworks inspired by the theme and art form of the current artwork they are visiting. Participants can share their artworks with others and review others' artworks through an AR lens.
Role: UX Researcher and Designer
Type of Project: Mixed Reality
Duration: 3 Months
Purpose: Academic Project.
Disclaimer: This feature has already been launched by Certinia. All data and name included in the prototype are entirely fictional and intended solely for demonstration purposes. For more information and latest updates, please read Certinia official release notes.
Tate Modern Britain have been engaging with visitors through innovation and technology for a significant of time, such as developing digital platform and creating digital content. Their digital champions aim to create rich content experience to showcase their collection and exhibition. They value on inclusivity and accessibility, as they are working toward to balance and satisfy needs from different type of visitors. Also, they utilise ‘audience first’ strategy to broaden their audience base.
This project focuses on three aspects - accessibility, educational and innovation, which aligned with Tate Modern’s vision.
1. Accessibility - This project is working toward being accessible for everyone, including disabled, different ethnic groups, users of various mobile operating system and age group
2. Educational - This project honors the artworks and artists it features. The presentation of artworks in the exhibition space, including lighting, interior design, and ambient atmosphere, plays a crucial role in contemporary art. Therefore, digital interactions and content are kept simple to prevent distracting visitors from experiencing the artworks. Rather than reimagining the viewing experience, this project aims to enhance the current experience and assist in elucidating the artists' statements through multimedia.
3. Creativity - To encourage visitors to explore their creativity potential and engage with art education, innovative technologies are utilized. Incorporating playfulness and shareability can enhance visitors' incentives to learn and enable them to share their experiences with friends.
The success metric of the project is 20% rise of visitor number and 30% rise of explosion on internet. The long term goal of the project is to achieve continuous grow of public interest in art and participate rate of Tate Modern’s educational program.
Field studies have been conducted to assess whether Tate Modern is suitable for integration with mixed reality technologies. Several limitations have been identified that need to be addressed, including:
1. Network
2. The setup of artworks may influence immersive viewing experience I designed
3. Distance kept between artworks and visitors will impacts the choice of sensor and its placement.
4. Spotlights and dark lighting influence the performance of participants' camera
5. Crowded gallery limit visitors’ freedom to move.
The diagram below show the user journey of the mobile application, as well as the programs used for the prototype.
Initially, participants scan the artcode designated for the nearby artwork along with the artist statement using the app. Subsequently, the welcome page of the artwork appears on the app. The following page features a mini-game specifically designed for the artwork, allowing participants to create their own artwork inspired by it. Once participants complete the game, they enter their name and submit their work to the database. Afterwards, they can open the AR lens through their camera and view others' artwork using the AR lens.
The evaluation primarily focused on collecting qualitative data regarding the usability of the design, including assessing the limitations of the technology within the context of use and identifying any confusion in the user journey. Additionally, it aimed to uncover users' emotions and satisfaction with the experience. To achieve this, a "think aloud" approach was adopted during the user evaluation to reveal participants' internal cognitive processes.
To simulate the museum environment, the university's library was chosen due to its various similarities with an art gallery environment. It was discovered that the prototype lacked precise instructions, leading to confusion among participants engaging with the experience. For example, participants struggled with scanning the Artcode and understanding the rationale behind selecting the fiber for the book and typing their name in the game. To address these issues, instructions for the mini-game and Artcode should be more specific, unfolding the sequence of the experience. Additionally, providing explanations about the meaning and creative process of the artwork before the mini-game could help visitors understand the rationale behind the tasks in the game.
Participants also encountered issues with scanning the Artcode due to wrinkles on the poster and reflections on the monitor, which raised concerns about the choice of medium for presenting the marker. To mitigate inaccuracies in scanning the Artcode, it should be presented in a more permanent method, such as laser cutting the Artcode with non-reflective material.
The positions of the marker and virtual objects in the AR experience significantly influenced the accessibility of the experience. To address this issue, two or more sets of markers are placed at different heights to accommodate different participants. Additionally, as users reported fatigue in their necks from looking up, the position of the scenery is adjusted to a comfortable eye level for all participants.
This is such an interesting project for me, as I have never design any mixed reality technologies. This project not only focus on the technical aspect, it also focus on the usability of mixed reality technologies, and I have learnt how to evaluate usability issues of those technologies. I am very proud of this project, as successfully combine both fun and educational elements in one application. If I can do this project again, I would be more creative and try out technologies that never been used in art gallery to experiment different possibilities.