I'll be honest, before the launch of this challenge, I've barely had any remote knowledge of what a museum (let alone an interactive museum) should be. I'll be lying if I said that the past four weeks were a piece of cake, but it was certainly an experience to bring it all together.
The Challenge
On the premise of an upcoming art exhibition, this UX project's task was to research creative artists and develop a design direction for an interactive museum kiosk. As a content curator, I had the opportunity to select my artist of choice, but more importantly, understand their unique art styles and creativity to translate that into a meaningful experience for users.
The design direction deck's goal is to facilitate development work by the engineering team to understand the overall interactive concept and assess its feasibility.
The Artist
The initial three artists I selected for this project were Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Keith Haring – three of the most renowned Pop Artists in contemporary history, which I was fond of growing up.
It was an opportunity to re-explore a side of a culture that I never had a chance to understand as a child. It was exciting yet astonishing to discover the stories of their craft. Ultimately, the spotlight of this project was directed at Keith Haring, which marked the cornerstone of this interactive experience.
Keith Haring was an American artist that was vastly active in the '80s. His art was often produced along the streets of New York City but stretched globally in his mission of delivering powerful messaging through simple figuration. Despite a brief career, his activism tackled several social and political topics with a central focus on community and humanity. Haring died in 1990 following complications due to AIDS.
The Design Concept
The interactive exhibit I conceptualized was titled "Figuring the World with Keith Haring," a homage to Haring's social impact around the world that remains largely remembered in the present day.
His style of simplicity and figuration was a language less replicated by many, and I wanted to bring this aspect to the work I proposed.
Feel free to have a look at the design concept above. Click here to view the Interactive Prototype.
Reflection
One of the most profound thought that I recognized from the last UX project on Amazon ClassKit was thinking about complexity. Despite the challenges I felt towards the subject of art, I wanted to push myself to envision an idea that encapsulates the qualities and values of an artist while exploring realistic possibilities.
But, in ways, it was also something that I needed to work on. While developing the kiosk, I often allowed my ideas to run freely and accepted way more ideas than what was necessary to deliver my goal. It often made the concept more overwhelming than I had realized, and it was only through feedback that it became more apparent.
In the past, I used to tell myself to evaluate if an idea is realistic, but here, I learnt that it's also important to consider if it's necessary. We all aspire to create the best product of our lives, to redefine meaningful user experiences. But, going into the working industry when more considerations of a business come into play, it is often important to take a step back and focus on one thing at a time – do it right and do it well.
It's easy to ride the momentum of developing something creative, and I'm admittedly a sucker for possibilities. However, like Keith Haring's simplicity, sometimes less is more and practicality could be more meaningful to users than possibility. It's something I have to work on and look forward to improving in future projects I embark on.
Lessons For The Future
If I could do this again, I would learn to take more momentary reflections, to look at the project from a broader perspective and progressively evaluate the feasibility of ideas before moving forth with them. Maybe some usability tests or concept tests, but I believe that it's a stepping point of being more efficient in my craft.
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