EAVES
3 weeks, 2022
Experience Design
Umeå Insitute of Design
A museum pass to an immersive and customised experience
Discover a new way to experience art with Eaves, a bespoke museum pass designed to transform your visit into an immersive, personalized journey. Eaves redefines the traditional museum experience by focusing on auditory enrichment, allowing you to fully immerse yourself visually in the art and architecture around you. Upon arrival, set your preferences and let Eaves lead you through a curated exploration, highlighting exhibits and artworks that resonate with your interests. As you move through the space, Eaves provides insightful commentary, deepening your connection with the art and its creators. Concluding your visit, Eaves offers a summarized account of your tour, creating a memorable and shareable record of your unique experience. Eaves isn't just a pass; it's like exploring the museum with a knowledgeable companion, tailored specifically to your curiosity and wonder.
TEAM
Valerie Feiertag | Kimberley Beauprez | Felix Wildberger
The museum experience with eaves.
navagation
In an unfamiliar setting, it is easy to lose your way. When exhibitions are laid out, the story the artefacts tell follows this path. So as a visitor you gain a lot by knowing your way- that is why in this system will play in a panoramic stereo sound. Working with an intuitive use of sound, the exhibition’s ambient soundscape increases on your left, right, front or back to pull you towards that direction. Through tracking installations connected to Eaves, the museum knows where you are, and where you best head to next
Storytelling
Whenever the visitor comes closer to an artefact, the narrating voice will starts playing, increasing in volume when staying in front of the piece. The visitor can at any time walk on, leaving the piece and its story behind.
Taking the sound
Placing a finger on the concave circle will produce a soft bubbling sound and an intensifying light to keep the sound with you so that you can walk on in the museum and listen to the same narrative regardless of where you are at. At any point you can stop this by again placing a finger on this area, pressing down until a sound and light feedback is given and the narration stops.
Bubbles
When visiting a museum with others and you want to share the experience you can share what you are listening to. Placing the passes on top of each other transfers the sound to the other pass. the one on top transfers theirs, at the same portion of the narration.
Eaves
Entering: set up your museum experience
When picking up Eaves, a set of possibilities is given to you. The museum could put together a itineraries where the visitor is guided through e.g. the must sees, or pinnacles of the style etc depending on the amount of time they have available. In this way, the museum can add layers of storytelling on their exhibitions; hidden narratives that are revealed when placing specific artefacts together. The visitor can also set the level of information about the artwork; whether they feel they are complete novices or experts in the subject.
Leaving: Take the museum with you
At the end of the visit, Eaves is handed back for cleaning and charging, if needed. The visitor will get a prompt to synchronize their museum visit summary with a digital device or account. The summary brings together your visit, based on the data, such as location, narrations listened to, duration, etc. acquired during that time. Favourite artists or artefacts helping you to find new museums to discover in your city or anywhere in the world. Maybe something in the gift shop would be of interest? Bringing together the narrations you listened to so you can revisit them wherever you are or share with close ones. And if you missed a narration during your visit because you had to hurry, it will be there for you, too.
Sound design
Gallery
Research
To enhance our understanding of the museum experience, we conducted a detailed analysis by visiting a local art museum and identifying common challenges faced by visitors. These issues, which recur across various museums, are a topic of ongoing discussion among curators. Key pain points we observed include: installations with sound bleeding into adjacent rooms, the need for headphones (often occupied or considered unhygienic) for video audio, placement of information about center-room installations on nearby walls requiring visitors to memorize details, difficulty reading plaques obscured by crowds, general uncertainty due to unclear directions or layouts, and the varying touring speeds of individuals in groups leading to unsynchronized experiences. These findings underscored the need for thoughtful design solutions to improve the overall visitor experience in museums.
Moodboard
Storyboard
Gallery
Gallery