The Way We UX

The Saint Louis Science Center is a magnificent tool to learn about a wide selection of topics that are always improved and updated as a result of advancing technology. From exhibits in nature and fossils, demonstrations of chemical reactions, rotating seasonal galleries on varying subjects, to a massive 3-story Rube Goldberg system, there is always more knowledge to gain without spending a dime. For a set price, there are broader experiences to be had in more limiting mediums of choice. The Omnimax theater projects films on a dome ceiling to fully immerse the viewer’s vision, the planetarium shows give different explorations to space and stars, and several themed workshops take the public behind the scenes to learn more in-depth about specific topics.

The view of the Rube Goldberg-like system

This post is the analysis of how people interact with the exhibits and why. My objectives are to observe typography, wayfinding signage, and how the public responds to a variety of displays.

Typography

In passing through nearly all general-admission exhibits, the first common theme was clear — sans serif type. Big, bold, and everywhere. Headings and paragraphs are written in different sans serif fonts, regardless of topic. Sans serif in natural disaster exhibits, sans serif in space exhibits, sans serif in menu signage. The only place I recognized having only serifs was in the most-recently updated exhibitions on architecture and water treatment. One concern for the focus on sans serif could be the age of the audience — children.

These plaques are from the exhibit on buildings. Headers are serifs, and paragraphs are sans serif.

Wayfinding

I am a Saint Louis native; thus, I have made many visits and field trips similar to this playground for touchable, playable, movable educational experiences. I enjoy the appearance of new signage. The sign below is (by-far) one of the most aesthetically appealing signs to my eyes out of all the signs I scoured that day. Big, bold, (sans serif), high contrast, unique color choice, the LEDs on the back of the letters to give dramatic flair, and it points where to go. A sign this large and contrast is hard to ignore. A rather uninteresting exhibit, per my opinion, but a fantastic sign.

Interaction

Exhibit

Mindball is a game measuring brainwaves to get a ball to move to the opposite side of the table. The participants wear headbands connected to a computer that analyzes the brainwaves, and the individual with the least reactive brainwaves will have the brainpower to move the magical ball. The choice of informational plaque does not support its purpose due to the poor choice of color and plexiglass as material. Each showcase should take no more than 3-minutes long to complete when looking at a range of simple to highly complex exhibitions. This game is instead a mildly simple task. However, I would not be able to read what the instructions say by looking at the photo below. There are monitors above the table showing the progress of two participants’ brain waves and who is beating who. Walking around the table and watching people use it, the participants and observers barely recognized the screen above our heads.

People

From the Mindball game mentioned above, I observed the group try the game multiple different times. With so many people, so many voices, the instructions were not read-. It wasn’t until the kids started complaining about a lack of results that the mother attempted to read the plaque and explain what they were doing, to which, with no surprise at all, she read the second headline and gave up. The more people involved, the more confusion. Text that is difficult to glace over gets ignored.

In the bottom left image, two boys are playing a platformer game with arcade-like controls in front of them. They seemingly did not know the objective. The boys struggled to get the rocket to balance horizontally long enough to keep it from crashing, and they didn’t seem to learn. These kids found interest in the multi-player game (foreshadowed by the dual stools available) and the arcade-like controls. I suspect space had something to do with it, but that’s a matter of to each his own opinion.

On the right side is an image capturing a few girls jumping in the Gaming exhibition. They did not seem to have any teamwork developed in their friend group; otherwise, they wouldn’t have died in the same spot four times in a row. Once again, these participants were shouting, always moving, and jumping constantly. They saw a screen, they saw the controller, and they climbed on it.

Takeaway

A quick peek at some principles I learned from the GAME exhibition.

There is a crucial factor that haunts my nerves. In the future, I will be designing and developing a touchscreen kiosk of my own for the public to test and play. For a museum full of hands-on, click-and-see, drag-and-drop interactions, there were significantly less person-to-touchscreen interactions. People wanted the opportunities to wear something to complete a task, use controllers to achieve a game on a screen, or — the most popular choice — use the physical exertion to achieve an end-goal. People don’t want to touch the screen, they want to move the screen, they want to move themselves to change the screen, they want to hold something, or become the controller.

Exploring the Science Center is necessary to create opportunities for fresh ideas and reflect on previous projects. With the intent to observe human interaction with technology, exploring and analyzing the environment developed questions and understanding. My mind is open to a range of unique methods of new experiences due to this opportunity.

I look forward to challenging the limitations of person-to-touchscreen in light of the knowledge I’ve acquired.