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December, 2023
ARtExplorer
Mobile Learning
Learning Experience Design
Product Design
An innovative augmented reality (AR) based mobile app aimed at improving teenagers' art museum learning experiences.
UIUX Design: Yuling Zhou, Yuchen Qu
Usability Test: Sadia Ahmed, Stacy Chen
Persona: Qinyi Wang
Museum:
Augmented Reality (AR) use in Informal Learning Environment
Museums have a history of serving as informal learning environments for people of all ages. The primary incentive for museum visits is to acquire knowledge and fresh insights (Packer & Ballantyne, 2002). However, teenagers face various obstacles in engaging with museum exhibits, such as low accessibility and outdated content. Practical learning tools are indispensable for teenagers to engage more effectively in museum visits.
Our team is dedicated to designing an augmented reality (AR) application that immerses teenagers in art museums and reinforces their understanding of art history.
Why did we make this product?
79% of Teenage Museum Visitors face these problems.
Museum learning experiences can be more interactive.
Always feel disconnected, lost, and frustrated in big museums.
Cannot find the way to the artwork they’re interested in.
Want to share their thoughts on social platforms.
User Story Map and Ideations
Our team distributed work and had weekly meetings.
Based on our interview, I created a user story map and ideations.
Target Audience: Teenagers 13 - 19
Persona
Why Augmented Reality?
Situated Learning
AR creates real-world challenges in the museum, enabling contextual interactions with objects and supporting scaffolding to guide learners through stages of understanding, enhancing engagement and learning.
Constructivist Learning
Social participation, inquiry-based activities, and learner agency are key elements, fostering an immersive and interactive experience that encourages active exploration and deeper understanding.
Design Goal
Use innovative AR technology to create an engaging art museum learning experience for teenagers, and help teenagers to have a better museum visit experience with tools like a museum guide and a virtual AR map.
Art Explorer has five main features:
Home, Search, Scan, Community, and My Account
Based on background research and addressing our target users' pain points, we designed our app's five key features: Home, Search, Scan, Community, and My Account.
Home
Community
Search
My Account
Scan
Map
Testing Feedback
We tested the app on six teenage users, and got some valuable advice.
99% of our users love virtual agent feature
Our app features innovative virtual guides styled after artists like Van Gogh and Monet, who help users navigate and discover artworks, enhancing the museum learning experience for teenagers.
Refinements
We modified the design according to the Usability Test.
“The scan function is helpful. But I think it can be bigger since it’s hard for us to find it now.”
We enhanced the visibility of the scan feature by prominently displaying it on the home page within an eye-catching banner, ensuring it's immediately noticeable and easily accessible upon launching the app.
“ I believe that seeing comments from friends could be an incentive for me to scan the art piece.”
Accordingly, we integrated a comment feature within the scanning function to allow users to view their friends' remarks on artworks directly.
“ I believe that seeing comments from friends could be an incentive for me to scan the art piece.”
Accordingly, we integrated a comment feature within the scanning function to allow users to view their friends' remarks on artworks directly.
Future Steps
The future steps for the "Art Explorer" app include enhancing the user interface based on feedback, particularly refining the scan function for better visibility and expanding community interaction features to encourage more user engagement. We plan to integrate a feature linking artwork to its appearances in films or songs, deepening the connection between art and pop culture.
Additionally, we aim to increase personalization by offering tailored learning paths and recommendations based on user preferences and history. To further improve the community experience, we will give users more control over media playback and conduct additional rounds of usability testing to ensure the app remains intuitive and engaging for teenagers.
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