With the construction of the new Insectarium at the AMNH, the curators wanted to bring attention to the many different ways and reasons insects create sound. Insects have a wide variety of sound making appendages and the sounds produced serve many functions.
We wanted to create an immersive soundscape for the whole exhibition, but also an accessible interface.
We first decided to design for the physical "totems" scattered across the hall. For legal reasons, I am unable to provide the floor plan and totem specs. Each totem features a class of insect and contains various facts. We wanted to add localized speakers and a touch screen with the soundboard loaded. The aim was to highlight the different ways and reasons insects make sounds.
We began by immersing ourselves in the world of sound making insects.
Our first concern was how we want to present the information to the user. Our first concern is education, so each screen should be both scientifically accurate and fun.
Our first interactive prototype focused on the physical component of sound making. We wanted to highlight all the different ways and reasons insects produce sounds, so we put each insect front and center. We put the a secondary fact popup on the side to give additional information.
We were inspired by classic scientific illustrations and wanted to create something like an interactive DK book.
Students and professionals both exhibit this behavior, which indicates an overall desire for a personal workspace within the main document. Many surveyed users also used keywords such as "section" and "assign" to describe their work style when collaborating.
Our first interactive prototype focused on the physical component of sound making. We wanted to highlight all the different ways and reasons insects produce sounds, so we put each insect front and center. We put the a secondary fact popup on the side to give additional information.
We were inspired by classic scientific illustrations and wanted to create something like an interactive DK book.
Due to some discussions at a stakeholder meeting, we had to switch the location and goal of our project. Instead of focusing on teaching users about the way insects make sounds, we switched our focus into simply informing users about the different insects that make sounds in different environments.
Using the new brief as a guide, we iterated several new versions of the soundboard and tested it with our classmates and some museum goers. We found that users liked being able to create their own "tunes", but found some of our simpler graphics to be too childish. We also created a separate information screen to keep our main UI free from distractions.
Our final product lives on an iPad, but can be scaled to fit larger touch screen displays. We used sound blocks to simplify the music making experience with simplified visual components to make it more compelling for visitors of all ages.
Video Demo
This was my first audio focused project and it taught me a lot about client work and designing for a wide audience. Although we faced several setbacks due to conflicting information, we managed to tease out the underlaying desire of our clients and worked towards that goal. I learned a lot about preparing for unexpected outcomes and testing for the desired reaction.
