For this project, I was asked to design an immersive experience for one tourist attraction here in Utah. I decided to focus on the Natural History Museum in Thanksgiving Point because I love history and have gone to the museum many times as a kid. I really enjoyed it and wanted to discover a way of helping others enjoy it as well! I chose to make an app because I figured that an app will allow kids and adults to enjoy learning inside and outside the museum.
Goals: ​
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Create an immersive experience for a tourist attraction in Utah.
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Design a new and fun way to share information to kids.
Audience: ​
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This app could be a fun and educational way for kids and parents to learn about natural history outside the museum! Because of this the audience for this project is families with young kids.
​Sketches and Basic Designs
The first thing I did was sketch out some ideas. These sketches were not accurate to the sizing of everything, but they did help me get some ideas as I was starting the process of designing. I figured that I could get four main pages: a home page, a tour page (using QR codes), a game page, and a fun facts page. Each of those pages would probably have other pages connected to them, but those four would be the main ones you navigate to. The page that I imagine people using the most is the tour page. People that visit the museum can download the app and scan QR codes that are on different signs throughout the museum to learn more about that exhibit. Someone could also explore the museum without even going inside by looking at the facts that could be found through a QR code that are included in the app. This allows kids to explore the museum easily when they are inside and do some learning on their way to the museum or look up facts after they visit and want to remember things they learned.
Digitize It
After the sketches were made, I turned each sketch into a digital wireframe using figma. After that, the only thing that I needed to do was add color, words, and components. I decided to go with a fun Orange and blue color because they felt outdoorsy and fit the kid mindset. After starting this part of the final design, I realized that two of the pages I was originally planning on making were very similar and I didn’t have a settings page so I added a fun fact to the front of the tour page and I added a settings/user page. This allows each visitor of the museum to sign in to their Thanksgiving Point membership for easy entrance to the museum and offers the museum a way of tracking who is signed in to the app and what they use most. This can help them improve the app and learn more about how to increase their visitors in the museum.
Reflection​​
I thought the work I did was very good! I was happy with the functionality of the designs. I was able to make the designs exactly what I wanted and more. If I had to change anything or if Thanksgiving Point were to contact me about putting this into play, I would rethink the colors and functionality. There are alot of cool places to visit on Thanksgiving Point and it might be a good idea to make an app for the whole attraction and not just for the Natural History Museum. I do feel like I accomplished what I set out to do and learned more about the process of designing an immersive experience.