How might we give users the in-person experience from a distance?
Summary
Located in Los Angeles, The Petersen Automotive Museum is a non-profit dedicated to the history and culture of the automobile. Their doors have been closed since July due to covid. With no date set to reopen, the museum had no way to connect visitors with their extensive collection. We wanted to create a digital means for visitors to interact with the museum in a way that mimics the in-person experience. After exploring different options, we decided a virtual tour would best meet user needs. Building the prototype in Figma had its limitations and challenges, but I got creative and we were able to test a fully functioning prototype. The interactive virtual tour was successful; it engaged visitors, brought them closer to the in-person experience, and provided the museum with a donation stream.
My role
Prototype lead, Figma
Interaction design
Heuristic evaluation
Project Type
Conceptual (team of 3)
2-week sprint
September 2020
The Challenge
Patrons of The Petersen are real car enthusiasts; they love the history, engineering, and beauty of cars. With its doors closed The Petersen is currently unable to fulfill its mission of being a resource for the study and enjoyment of the automobile. How might we create a digital means for visitors to interact with the Petersen in a way that mimics the in-person experience?
User Persona
Designed by Lindsay Logan
Discovery
Major museums around the world use interactive virtual tours as a way to engage their visitors from a distance. The problem with these tours is that they don’t allow users to get additional information on an artifact, and the navigation is confusing and often unintuitive. The Petersen had previously uploaded recorded video tours of different galleries to their Youtube channel; however, these videos were not engaging for visitors and lacked the autonomy and depth users wanted.
Users’ biggest pains were not getting information on an item that interested them and the lack of control or difficult navigation. These are not issues of in-person museum visits.
The tour starts at The Petersen’s iconic facade
Final version of intro scree
Solution
An interactive virtual tour was the best way to give visitors an experience that would mimic an in-person trip. To best solve the user pains around the other methods of remote museum interaction this virtual tour needed easy navigation, independent exploration, and quick access to additional artifact info.
The value of this interactive virtual tour is diverse and extends beyond re-opening:
Disabled and neurodivergent patrons, as well as long-distance visitors, can now explore the museum in a way that better meets their needs
Supplements in-person visits when the museum reopens to provide additional information, self-guided tours, and more interactivity
Provides a source for donations
Design
Our strategy for the prototype was to give visitors the delights of the in-person experience and remove the pains of recorded videos and competitor’s tours, thinking about what visitors have access to when they visit a museum in person.
Key Features
360 degree view of museum interior
Info cards to learn more about an artifact without leaving the tour
Intuitively move between viewpoints
Access map for navigation
Info cards like these allow visitors to learn more about their favorite vehicles with one tap
Making 2D feel like 3D
My initial thought was to build a 3D spherical image with the viewer at the center the way other virtual tours do, but Figma was not capable of this. I ended up using a similarly distorted flat image and narrowing the field of view so the distortion was not noticeable.
This image represents one of four viewpoints within the gallery. It was made by stitching together 28 separate images into one panoramic view and then doubling it to give the user more room to horizontally scroll without breaking the illusion.
Key Iterations
Slow down transitions between viewpoints to reduce visual strain
Orient jumps between viewpoints so users know their place within the gallery
Change the donate button from “$” to “Donate” clarified its purpose for users
Final Prototype
Reflections
The virtual tour was a success. Visitors loved getting to see inside a museum they had never been to before. They felt as if they had actually been to The Petersen after the virtual tour, bringing them as close to the in-person experience as we could considering the scope of this project.
If I had to do it over again, I would do more usability testing with competitors’ virtual tours. This could have brought more insights into the behavior, wants, and pains of visitors in these tours, and possibly put us further ahead with our final prototype.
What Comes Next
Short Term
Create more viewpoints within gallery
Curate content for all vehicles on tour
Implement accessibility features like screen reader and variable text sizes
Long Term
Increase functionality of map by expanding tour to new museum sections
Evaluate other ways the virtual tour could mimic the in-person experience