An explorative family expedition through the museum

Abstract

This graduation project describes the design process of the Pancake Expedition; a non guided family product for the Rijksmuseum. The objective of this project was to design an explorative family expedition that enriches and enhances the museum experience for families and surprises them in two ways; a surprise concerning family interaction and the museum collection. The Rijksmuseum, located in Amsterdam, is currently being renovated. In the time of this project the Philips wing of the museum, with an exhibition about the Dutch Golden Age, was open for public. After the reopening, the Rijksmuseum will offer visitors an overview of art and history from the late Middle Ages to the present day. A scope of new products will be introduced, including the explorative family expedition which focuses on the Golden Age collection. Literature shows that family friendly museums are a hot topic in the museum world. In these museums the focus is on both the adults and the children. The Rijksmuseum defines a family as at least one adult visitor in the company of one or more children who have a familial bond with each other. Within this definition several family compositions and family behaviour types can be distinguished; e.g. a single parent with two children has another family and museum interaction than two grandparents with one grandchild. Museum experience is different each time a visitor enters the museum. A positive experience and memory occurs if the museum matches the expectations of the visitors. To enrich and enhance the museum visit and increase the social interaction within the family, the explorative family expedition should be presented and communicated clearly and inviting. A method to stimulate interaction in museums is Visual Thinking Strategies. This method consist of three open-ended questions and is based on the theory that learning occurs from social environmental interactions. A way to enrich and enhance the museum visit of families, is to offer an interesting and fun product. The explorative family expedition should focus on the complete family and stimulate family interaction. In order to design an interesting explorative family expedition, insights in desired family interaction and museum visits had to be obtained, as well as family behaviour and experiences during a Rijksmuseum visit. An observational research and a co-research study were conducted. Co-research is a qualitative form of research in which users participate actively in the research process. The observational research showed that most of the families have a goal-oriented approach, they scan objects quickly instead of viewing them intensely. If they take more time for an object, they like to discuss it as a family. The children have a major role during the visit, they determine the pace within the museum. Most of the adults on the other hand determine the route and have the role of teacher and motivator. From the co-research it appeared that all families like to do and explore things together in museums, though there should be room for 1-on-1 moments and alone time as well. The focus of museum products should be both on the children and the adults; they want to learn new things by doing, and like to see a gaming element in these products. All families like to have a souvenir of their visit. Based on the outcomes of the co-research, five characteristic families, so-called familias, have been composed. Four guiding themes are formed with the research outcomes; souvenir, action, gaming element and family interaction. These themes were kept in mind when the step to the design phase was made. Also two extra guiding themes, based on the assignment and the literature, were taken into account; surprise element and positive memory. Based on the research outcomes an extensive list with design guidelines was formulated. With help of the guiding themes that derived from the exploration and research phase, eight guidelines have been selected as most important for this project. These guidelines were used during the idea and concept phases. With help of a creative session and historical background of the Golden Age period, ideas were generated for the explorative family expedition. Six ideas were presented to the Rijksmuseum and three of them were developed further into concepts. In the first concept, Golden pancakes, the families have to find missing ingredients of a pancake recipe. The tour has the form of a recipe box with thematic question cards. In concept 2, Explore the Golden Age, the families have to solve riddles with help of the objects in the museum. The form of the correct answer has to be pressed out and all parts can be put together to build a 3D model. The third concept, The Rijksmuseum game, is based on a life-size board game. The museum building is used as a playing field, and the family has to roll a dice to determine where to go. Each room includes a question or fun-fact. Based on a comparison to the eight most important guidelines and the preference of the Rijksmuseum, one final concept has been chosen to elaborate further as the explorative family expedition. This final concept combines the strong points of two concepts; the Golden Age pancake recipe and the form of a 3D puzzle. The final design of the explorative family expedition, the Pancake Expedition, introduces the families with the Golden Age period by means of a pancake recipe. The recipe is used to explain the overall story of this period. The main question that will be answered during the tour is; what do you need to bake Golden Age pancakes? The questions in the tour are presented in the form of a construction kit. Each question should be answered by pressing out a part of this construction kit. At the end of the tour the families can build a 3D puzzle with the nine collected parts. The result is a pop-up model of a VOC ship. The tour consists of eleven questions, though only nine of them will be answered by the families. The visitor flow can differ, this is related to the answers that were given during the tour. At the end of the tour, the families are able to answer the main question. They are introduced with all pancake ingredients and how these ingredients were imported and transported by the Dutch in that period. The result of the 3D puzzle is also part of the answer to this main question. A reality check was set up to evaluate the product. During this reality check four families used a simplified version of the tour in the Philips wing. From this user study it can be concluded that the Pancake Expedition is experienced positively by all families, though there are some focus points to keep in mind for further refinement. Furthermore the design has been evaluated with help of the eight most important guidelines and the familias that were composed in the research phase. Recommendations were formulated for the Rijksmuseum in order to implement the design. The most important recommendations are to rephrase the questioning in order to make it more inviting and to the point. Also a final decision concerning the material and the slit width has to be made in relation to the appearance of the product and the pop-up mechanism.