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Solutions for Kids in Museums

September-October, 2013

Parents love to take kids to museums. But sometimes we see kids causing troubles or cannot get valuable knowledge due to their unsatisfied needs. Therefore, I designed two solutions for museums to help their young visitors better.

 

This is a course project of Interaction Design Fundamentals at Carnegie Mellon University.

User Study + Design Process

To understand user needs, we went to Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh and Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) to conduct field research. Based on the observations, we brainstormed 100+ ideas of possible solution. We consolidated all the ideas and found the most promising ones by using using affinity diagram.

 

Artwork Copy

Artwork copy solution is designed to solve the problem that some artworks are too high for children to see. This solution place the art pieces in reasonable heights so that children can get more engaged in museum visits.

 

1. Theresa takes her son Jimmy to the MoMA museum in New York city. They look at the famous painting by Van Gogh.

2. The painting was too high for Jimmy to see. Jimmy has no idea about the painting and thus feel really bored.

3. Museum adopts the solution of artwork copy. The copied painting is then placed in a reasonable height so that the problem is solved and Jimmy is happy again.

Loud Zone

Loud Zone is an area for kids who need a break. This solution releases kids from the long visiting trip and allows visitors to immerse themselves into the quiet environment without being disturbed.   

 

1. Lisa and Annie are playing and laughing out load in the Natural History Museum in DC.

2. Visitors who want silence are annoyed and put on a angry face against Lisa and Annie.

3. Museum adopts the solution of building a loud zone area for kids who need a break. And other visitors can enjoy their trip wholeheartedly without being disturbed.

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