Abstract
Museums and science centres are informal education environments that intend to engage visitors with their exhibits.We present an efficient design process that allows an improved working relationship between museum practitioners, exhibition designers, and visitors. Its principles and a graphical representation are based on the Engagement Profile from previous work. Curators and designers evaluate the qualities of exhibits using the engagement profile while visitors inform the design process by answering a standardised questionnaire. Elements of the design process were evaluated using an educational game at the science centre Engineerium. This study was based on the responses from over five hundred visitors to the science centre. As an outcome, the science centre received valuable information of how to improve the exhibit. Further, one iteration of the design process was implemented in practice. First experiences show that our method will practically support the work of museum practitioners and exhibition designers. We present the principles and a graphical representation based on the Engagement Profile from previous work. Elements of the design process are evaluated using an educational game at the science centre Engineerium. The evaluation is based on a study with over five hundred visitors to the science centre.
Highlights
Science centres and museums present exhibitions, installations, and educational programmes that are designed to engage visitors for self-education on a subject and to inspire the visitors to learn more
We propose an iterative design process that integrates mandatory assessments of visitor engagement parameters into the design process using the Engagement Profile, formerly denoted as the Visitor Engagement Installation (VEI) Profile [1] and real-time visitor engagement studies [1,2]
In today’s practice, the collaboration between these groups is not formalised—the museum practitioner is in many cases unable to mediate their expectations to the designer, the designer’s intention is not understood by the visitor, and the effect of the design on the visitor is not evaluated
Summary
Science centres and museums present exhibitions, installations, and educational programmes that are designed to engage visitors for self-education on a subject and to inspire the visitors to learn more. For exhibitions to be engaging, the exhibit design process needs to take care of the needs of the visitor. An iterative design-process must include the museum practitioner, the designer, and the visitor. In today’s practice, the collaboration between these groups is not formalised—the museum practitioner is in many cases unable to mediate their expectations to the designer, the designer’s intention is not understood by the visitor, and the effect of the design on the visitor is not evaluated. Including the visitor in the design process seems, in many cases, to be done in an unstructured fashion
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