Design of a discursive museum game to reflect on collective human themes in historical art

Abstract

This thesis report describes the research and design process towards the museum product concept ‘Polaroid Quest’, a game for a discursive experience uncovering fundamental human needs within the Rijksmuseum’s collection and enhancing players’ sense of time.

The Rijksmuseum, the primary stakeholder in this project, is the largest and most visited museum in the Netherlands. With over 2.4 million annual visitors, it seeks to connect people with art and history, offering a rich collection of over one million objects. Its strategy emphasizes deepening public engagement by telling compelling stories that surprise and inspire visitors. The museum aims to maintain high visitor satisfaction while expanding its reach, particularly among young adults.

The design challenge addresses the Rijksmuseum’s need to innovate while preserving its traditional values. The problem lies in balancing technological advancements with the museum’s classical identity, ensuring that new products align with its mission. The Polaroid Quest is developed within the framework of the museum’s 2023-2028 strategic plan, focusing on engaging visitors through reflection on shared human experiences.

The target user group for this product is the Dutch Young adult Fun seeking Explorer (DYFE), a profile that is underrepresented in the museum but has significant potential for engagement. This audience is characterised by curiosity and independence, has a need for social interaction and exciting activities, and likes to engage with trendy services, possibly involving photography and multi-media. The profile combines a visit type from the Rijksmuseum’s own audience segmentation tool, a role from Falk’s identity-related motivations model and a particular demographic population.

To understand how to connect this audience with art and history, the project employs a human-centred design methodology. A contextmapping study is conducted with 7 DYFE target users to uncover their values and needs regarding a visit to the Rijksmuseum in specific, and the connection with art and history in general. The rich results are analysed and supplemented by findings from desk and field research, e.g. literature review, employee interviews, and observations of guided programs. A dozen insights on context, interaction and product level are found and translated to requirements and opportunities for the design of a new product. The interaction with the new product is envisioned to be explorative, playful and challenging.

In a creative process of multiple months, including a design sprint and three iterations, a product concept is developed. Low-fidelity prototypes are built and tested with DYFE users in the Rijksmuseum. The form of the final product is a photography game, the content revolves around the notion of fundamental human needs. The Polaroid Quest challenges visitors to view art through a human lens and connects the historical objects to the timeless and universal desires that all people can relate to. The juxtaposition of contrasting views on the same artwork and the social nature of the game lead to a discursive museum experience in which visitors discuss and curate a thematic narrative from various voices.

The Rijksmuseum is recommended to further evaluate this concept with visitors and continue the full development of game content and product form. An app embedded in the existing digital ecosystem may provide a more feasible solution than a completely integrated device with AI-powered image recognition and portable duplex printing technology, although it compromises some key properties of the desired interaction.