Visitors at Lowell Observatory create a new identity as a cadet of the Space Guard Academy and explore a suite of interconnected experiences that teach them all about asteroids.
Cadets explore a wide variety of concepts and activities, such as the Jupiter Orbital Resonance game, which simulates a horse race and communicates concepts around how asteroids and planets interact in space. Another activity, Asteroid Impacts, depicts an interactive timeline of historical asteroid impacts on Earth. Other activities include a matching game that illustrates how light interacts with asteroids, a spot-the-difference game that teaches how asteroids are identified in space, and a quiz game where cadets can test their knowledge on everything they’ve learned.
As visitors engage with each activity, they earn points which lead to increases in rank and earn badges in specific areas of content. A final “Hall of Fame” monitor shows off each cadets’ rank, score, and badges, encouraging visitors to participate in all of the activities and perform as best they can in order to increase their score.
Implementation
The suite of applications for the exhibition challenged the entire team to make complex scientific concepts accessible to a wide audience. As one of two lead designers on the project, I worked with content experts to create compelling and fun interactive experiences. The initial user experience concepts were tested against scientific learning goals to ensure they communicated exactly what the client wanted. Through a collaborative process, we developed an aesthetic that was futuristic and high tech, yet accessible to young visitors. In total, we built six interactives as well as a non-interactive “hall of fame” system that tracks visitors as they progress through the activities.
Design Samples