The Strong National Museum of Play is based in Rochester, NY. The museum encourages learning, nurtures creativity, and promotes discovery through play, and is open to visitors of all ages. Following an extensive 2023 expansion, this kiosk concept was designed to help families navigate the museum's new wings with ease.
The museum's 2023 expansion nearly doubled the museum's square footage, adding tons of new exhibits but little additional wayfinding. For families only visiting for a day, they had trouble navigating to specific exibits or knowing how to budget their time for different activities.
I approached the kiosk design knowing that it had to be ADA accessible, which meant that the kiosk had to be at least 15 inches off the ground and clickable content could not be more than 48 inches high. I realized that while this height was accessible for wheelchair users, it was also accessible to kids. This changed the way I approached the UI, making site navigation reachable to all users.
To make the kiosk as exciting as the museum, I turned the kiosk into an interactive game of marble run. All the screens are interconnected through pipes and obstacles with the ball leading you from page to page.
The concept kiosk solves guests getting lost navigating to exhibits, not knowing what each exhibit was or how long it took, and gave children an accessible check point where they could go if they got lost or needed help.
Having the kiosk animate made it approachable to kids so they would be comfortable interacting with the display and hitting buttons, ensuring they wouldn't be scared to use the kiosk in an emergency.
