NODEM 2014 Proceedings

A Case Study to Make Use of Cross-channel User Experience for Interactive Exhibition Design
amount of attention and devotion to each and every interaction placed in the exhibition area and wanted to
guide the visitor’s route through the calculated energy he placed on each activity. In order to realize this crosschannel
user experience, the student integrated a wearable helmet that collected the energy revealed during
the visitor’s performance and transformed this data into usable information to guide for the visitor’s navigation
in the exhibition space. The exhibition space was organized for 3 floors. The helmet would direct the visitor’s
navigation in parallel with his will to perform and the degree of participation in the exhibition. The helmet
would also collect the information about his overall experience in the exhibition and convert into a sculpture,
which was given as a reminder gift to the visitor at the end of his visit.
As seen from the conceptual works, the physical form of the interactive tool was shaped by the theme of the
exhibition. Therefore, these tools were well-integrated with the exhibition and played a leading role in developing
engaging spaces. Tablets, eyeglasses, gloves, headphones, flashlights, helmets, memory sticks and cards
were among the tool choices of students.
Another significant issue recognized with the analysis of this group of conceptual design projects lied in the
competence of these personal tools to improve the capability of the media space to adapt itself to the needs
of the users as well as to support the multiple information obtaining strategies. The area of pervasive computing
supported the idea of establishing the sense of place, by helping the visitors to reduce disorientation and
increase legibility and way-finding in digital and physical environments. This approach provided the space of
communication to be unique and resilient, while supporting the exhibition to be perceived as a compact spatial
experience sustained by functional, technical and behavioural means of design.
Conclusion
With the aim of sustaining their role as the centres of cultural heritage, museums have started to try new approaches
for communication in recent decades, by housing interactive exhibitions that make use of digital
technologies and tools. This research, which aimed to improve the potential of the exhibition space as an
engaging environment, was carried out since 2009. Throughout the research, solid outcomes were obtained,
which involved the identification of the possible aspects that effected the design of interactive exhibitions
and their possible contributions to visitor participation and, the findings brought this research to a level of
maturity. However, the compactness of exhibition was fragmented either due to the geometric qualities of the
spaces or the traditional multi-channel user experience strategies concerning the structuring of the information
system. This general tendency reflected the necessity to reconsider the visitor engagement from a holistic
point of view that involved the behavioural aspects of design to join the functional and technical issues. In order
to maintain the above-mentioned intentions in design, at this stage of the research, creating cross channel
user experience supported by pervasive computing environments were chosen as the focus area.
With the group of undergraduate students under the Department of Communication Design, several projects
were developed on the basis of obstruction method. The students were advised to develop a theme and a
storytelling for a disabling environment that would prevent the visitor to use one of his senses. The disabling
approach proved to be suitable for the aimed context and yielded the solution of combining a mobile or
wearable interactive tool for personal use. This approach brought successful outcomes for creating the individualistic
experience and brought freedom to navigate physically and virtually within the content of the
exhibition while saved the continuity of the theme and information flow. The experiences performed within
these conceptual design works were tracked and saved by these personal digital tools in the form of locationbased
data, which denoted the transformation of exhibition space to an engaging place. It was understood
that, while digital tools favoured the media space, being dependent on location could not be denied in the
reliability of any design work. Another important proposition of these projects was the efficient relationship
provided between the need, the form and the technology of the personal gadgets, which had shown great
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