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Design Brief

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Before

How can museums make their experience more vibrant and alive for the communities that they serve?

Now

How might the RBCM museum engage higher education students (either from victoria or not) with its collections?

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Secondary Research

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How we started

How we did it

What we found

Had limited understanding of the RBM
Analyzed museum offerings, trends and landscape through secondary research
Needed to investigate the audience, their views, experience of the RMB

Deep dived into museum trends
Investigated RBCM’s offerings

Current events
Galleries
Admission rates
Diversity & Accessibility
Facebook Reviews

RBM took community feedback to rebuild 3rd floor exhibit
Exhibits are filled with models and displays
Museum users and non-users believe “museums are a place for presentation of objects rare, old, or privileged.” Non-users don’t draw connections between museums and themselves

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Royal British Museum

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Offerings

Human History

Natural History

Others

Comprehensive collections of BC First Nations Cultural collections

Plants, insects, terrestrial arthropods, herpetology collections

BC Archives
Peering into the Past: Celebrating Canada’s Oldest Chinatown

RBCM vs. ROM

More Displays of places / events

More variety of exhibits and larger collections

Extensive focus on Indigenous materials

Indigenous exhibit material is hidden

More displays of individual items

More displays that attract a younger demographic

Downtown

Diverse visitors

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Primary Research Collection Method

Previously…

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Now…

Conducted intercept interviews after observing gen z’s behaviour in exhibits

Conducted empathy interviews with people from UofT and asked about visit frequency, what they enjoyed, and past memories

20 total interviews

5 more interviews & 8 New Surveys

Empathy Interviews

Reached out to commerce and history students from Toronto that are from BC to ask about their experiences, memories, and opinions

Surveys

Surveyed BC residence through the help of RRU connection

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Before we move on however, it's important to distinguish what a personal connection means to our target users as well as what they mean by immersive displays. Subjects stated that exhibits that connected to their personal interests in terms of their hobbies or things they learned in school is something that would make them feel more attached and connected to an exhibit. Another form of personal connection that allows our target to feel more connected to museums and exhibits is if that exhibit represents or can show them something related to their cultural background, one student said “i am greek so i always go to that section because i feel like i’m learning about my heritage”. Lastly, in general people said that forming a sense of community and creating lasting memories through experiences always makes them feel more personally connected to something as they feel a sense of belonging.

Additionally when asked what kind of immersiveness would be most influential to their museum experience they said “Something that makes me feel like i have been transported back to that time period, through the way the exhibit looks and is presented”, because exhibits are old and have information from a long time ago, students want to feel like they can relate to these objects no matter where or when they are from. They also stated that ““Being able to touch things and learn in a way that is exciting, like through videos and touchable objects” was something that would increase their experience

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Now that we know Anna a little bit better lets looks at a day in her life to better understand her needs and desires as a person. Anna typically wakes up and walks her dog in the park. Around 9 am she makes breakfast and completes a daily work out. She then goes to brunch with her parents at Flow’s a breakfast place they always loved. At 12 she meets with her rotman school group to plan events for the next semester. She loves getting involved as it's a great way to make friends and connect to people with similar interests. During her break at 1pm she reads her new greek mythology book, a new subject she's been interested in lately. At 2 pm she meets with highschool friends and they walk aimlessly around the mall browsing in stores like patagonia and nike. Her and her friends enjoy walking around but always are looking for more fun and exciting things to do but just feel like they have tried everything in terms of entertainment. At night she meets with some friends at a new spanish that just opened. At 8 the group goes bowling and take about the funny and amazing food they had at dinner. Before bed she unwinds with video games and reflects on all the great memories and stories made that day.

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Based on the things we heard from our interviewees we have created a list of needs and problems our persona Anna faces. The things Anna loves and needs in her life is to be involved in entertaining experiences. With her busy life as a university student anna always looks for things to do and enjoy with friends that can allow her to make long lasting memories that she can fondly reflect on as it allows her to take a break from her busy life. Anna also needs her experiences in life to teach her something new, although this may not be something she actively seeks out she does feel like her life and the experience because even more special if she is able to take something away from her experiences as a person. Lastly, Anna needs interactive experiences, when Anna is able to use her hands and become an active participant in something rather than a passive viewer she feel more immersed in whatever it is she is doing.

However Anna faces some problems in her everyday life, although she is looking for these kinds of experiences within her life she feels like not many things like this actually exist. One main place she is actually able to gain all of these needs at once is at an escape room, in there rooms Anna is able to interact with the material and immerse herself in the story, learn something new as she is able to use her mind to solve the clues and make lasting memories with her friends allowing her to feel closer and more connected to the people within this group, which ultimately leads them to being passionate about going back to these rooms all the time. However, outside of this she doesn't really feel like she gets this experience anywhere else, especially not the museum where she feels like a passive viewer and rarely ever takes things away from these experiences. Overall, because she can’t find these spaces, she can often feel disconnected from those places that do not meet her needs.

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Delving Deeper Into Anna’s Persona

At the Museum:

What “Personal Connections” means to Anna

In her Everyday:

Anna loves greek mythology and has been reading a book on it, thus when she goes to the museum she pays extra special attention to this exhibit

Finding artifacts that relate to her interests

Anna was born in china and raised in BC so history of china and canada always fascinate her as she feels like she is connecting and tracing her family's history back in time.

Exhibits and artifacts that involve her cultural background

“I am part of RCBDA because I enjoy feeling a part of something bigger than me”

Expand her network of friends
Find people she can connect with as they all have something in common

Being part of a community

Feel connected to places, event, and people she cares about
Anna goes to the same escape room building with her friends as they have made so many great memories there and know new and fun things are always on the way!

Creating memories

Before me move onto and discuss the problem anna is facing we have talked a lot about what personal connection means, and we must define what this means for our persona Anna. Personal connection to anna comes in two forms, the first is what personal connection means to her solely in the museum and what personal connection means to her overall about everything in her life. In the museum personal connection means finding artifacts and exhibits that relate to her. Anna loves greek mythology and has been reading a book on it, thus when she goes to the museum she pays extra special attention to this exhibit. If the museum can appeal to her likes she feels connected to the content. Secondly in the museum if the exhibit involves and includes a well done description of her cultural background she will automatically feel connection to that section. For example, Anna was born in china and raised in BC so history of china and canada always fascinate her as she feels like she is connecting and tracing her family's history back in time.

More importantly though, the main two needs Anna must have anywhere to feel personally connected is the ability to feel part of a community and if she is able to make lasting meaningful memories. For example we discussed how she gets the sense of community she needs through her rotman student group as she can expand her network and be part of a group that has similar interests and passions as herself. Lastly, creating meaningful memories is crucial to feeling a connection to something, for example, anna goes to the same escape room building with her friends as they have made so many great memories there and know new and fun things are always on the way! Although rooms dont change all the time the new memories they make when they go back always inspire her to visit again.

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Design Brief

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Brief:

How might the RBCM museum engage higher education students (either from victoria or not) with its collections?

We define higher education students as:

Undergraduate students
Gen Z
From British Columbia

Either study there or somewhere else

Non-humanities and art students
Feel less of a connection to the content based on their degree

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Encourages Further Learning

Passion/Interest Increase to return to museum

Creating a lasting memory

Design Criteria

Degree of impact

Implements interactive experiences

Based on the key finds we know that people that don’t go to museum have a hard time connecting to them at all. We also know that our audience seek interactive and immersive experiences that allow them to create and further develop a sense of community while allowing them to form and making meaningful memories that they will always cherish and remember as these things lead feeling of personal connection to things, places and people. Based on this information we have created the following design criteria. This criteria is based on our insights that we found and will be what we used to create our prototypes, Our prototypes suggested will follow this criteria as these things are necessary to solve our customers problems and meet their needs. First our prototype must have a interactive experience element as this was stated to help our subjects better relate and immerse themselves in something. It must also encourage further learning. Although people don't seek this out they state it is a welcomed added benefit that allows them to take something away from the event. It must create a lasting memory as this allows them to feel more connected to the space and people they are there with. It must also increase their passion to return to the museum, as this means they feel connected and engaged enough to return. Lastly it must create a personal connection in any or all of the ways we specified before.

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Problem Statement:

How might we, museums, make gen z students passionate about returning to the museum by creating personal connections through a sense of community and lasting memories?

How Might We:

Gen Z undergraduate students who seek an exciting and engaging experience at the museum often feel bored and disconnected, which results in them leaving without any desire to return.

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Solution Overview

Escape to the Past

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An immersive escape room based on one of the exhibit topics

Making the Old New

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A call-to-action nudge to increase museum foot traffic

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Prototype One: Escape to the Past

Escape room where the theme is based on one of the exhibit topics. The theme of the escape room will change every 3 months to rotate through different exhibits. (RBCM has done a Santa themed escape room during the Christmas season)

What is it?

Before visiting

During the Visit

After the Visit

Interactive panel outside the museum that offers a digital challenge for people to get a glimpse into the museum escape room offering

In-person 30-minute escape room based on an exhibit topic. New escape room themes will be launched every 3 months

Visitors visiting 4 escape rooms will receive a unique prize

The first prototype as stated earlier is called Escape to the Past. This idea is an Escape room that will be set up inside the museum. The theme of the escape room will be based on one of the many exhibits that is currently running within the museum. The theme of the escape room will change every 3 months and will rotate its content based on different museum exhibits. It is important to note that the RBCM has done a Santa themed escape room during the Christmas season, however they have not expanded on this idea in other ways based on our research. Thus we thought it would be a good idea to expand on this idea that has been tested and done by the museum. This prototype will be implemented in three stages which allows us to attract and target our user in all stages of the customer journey.

Before visiting there will be a Interactive panel outside the museum that offers a digital challenges that resembles what you may be doing in the escape room in the museum for people to get a glimpse into the museum escape room experience. During the visit there will be In-person 30-minute escape room based on an exhibit topic. New escape room themes will be launched every 3 months And after the visit we will offer a kind of reward where Visitors visiting 4 escape rooms in a row will receive a unique prize to entice them to come back to museum and earn more points as well as redeem their prize.

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Before the Visit

Before visiting

During the Visit

After the Visit

An interactive hook…

Digital panel that offers a small “game” where visitors can solve a puzzle similar to the one in the escape room

Once the puzzle is over, they will be prompted to go to the museum and further enjoy the experience

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During the Visit

Before visiting

During the Visit

After the Visit

Museum Escape Map

Separate room in the museum where the escape room is decorated with materials and objects from a specific time period and exhibit

Challenge clue #1

Clue #2

Clue #3

The information required to solve the puzzle will be presented in the museum exhibit 🡪 prompts students to visit and learn from the exhibit prior to the escape room

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After the Visit

Before visiting

During the Visit

After the Visit

Learning Rewards

Successful solving of the 4 escape rooms in a row will be provided a free entry ticket + guest pass to the specialty (travelling) exhibit

Visitors like Anna can both enjoy the escape room challenge, learn the exhibit content in order to solve the escape room puzzle, and visit the specialty exhibit

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Prototype two: Making the Old New

Before the Visit: Poster with interactive questionnaire and QR code as the hook

During the Visit: same experience; focus on learning

After the Visit: TikTok Challenge to post their favourite learning topic

Which year did the animal go extinct?

1476

1872

1890

1948

Scan to find out!

I learned about…

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Prototype 1: User Interview Results

“I think I would stop to interact with it if it were some sort of digital interactive display, sort of like interactive maps at malls.”

1

“I think I would check it out if the interactive display offers maybe a small discount for tickets…”

2

“The escape rooms would have to be worth it to me and also reasonably completable. Maybe certain completion [targets] per year instead of 4 in a row would be better…”

”Escape rooms are using quite fun. So a room that tests your knowledge would be quite cool

3

4

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Prototype 2: User Interview Results

“I wouldn’t be drawn towards a poster and QR code as the interactive display. It feels disconnected and I won’t notice it”

1

“Maybe a digital poster would be more fun and interesting…something that catches my eye more”

2

“I think that would cool, but if there are no guaranteed incentives then I would be a bit more hesitant to do a TikTok video”

“A visiting exhibit would be cool. If the exhibits would change, I would go back more. “

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4

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Feasible: Easy to implement PT 1 ¾ PT 2 4/4
Cost Efficient: benefits outweigh the costs PT 1 ¾ PT 2 4/4
Desirable: matches up with customers wants and needs PT 1 4/4 PT 2 2/4
Ease of use for visitors: How easy it is for them to use idea PT 1 4/4 PT 2 ¾
Ability to generate excitement to return: PT 1 4/4 PT 2 2/4

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Desirability

Feasibility

Decision Criteria

Prototype 1: Escape to the Past

Prototype 2: Make the Old New

Ability to generate excitement

Cost efficient

We have created a set of decision criteria that we will use to analyze which prototype to implement. First is desirability which states how much the customers were attracted and liked this idea. Based on our interview results we saw that more people enjoyed and were more excited about the Escape to the Past prototype as it was more interactive changed design often, offered fun and intriguing rewards and constituted learning which encouraged them to return on a more frequent bias. Next we evaluated on feasibility and ease of implementation. Prototype 1 is less feasible in comparison to prototype two as it will be more costly, however, the museum has put on a escape room before so it shows this is not out of the realm of possibility for the museum. Next is ability to generate excitement. Escape to the past ranked better on this criteria as many people said they would be very interested in this idea and the benefits from it while for making the old new many thought it was interesting not different or exciting. Lastly, we evaluated on cost efficiency make the old new scored higher as it does not involve as much work from the museum and thus would be less costly. However, overall based on the results we have chosen Escape to the past as it created and generates more excitement as well as created an incentive for return visitors and active learning.

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Attracts young people who typically look for entertainment outside of the museum (bowling, movies, arcades)
Develops interest in museum content within young adult visitors, forming memories that will connect them more personally to the museum
Generates enthusiasm in the community to return for each new escape room

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Prototype Proposal Impacts

For Anna….

For the RBCM…

Provides entertainment
Immerses her into the museum content, captivating her attention
Allows her to learn more and apply her knowledge in real time
Lets her connect and make memories with her community of friend

The Escape the Past Proposal we have created will have both positive impacts for our user Anna and the Museum. First we see that it will finally provide her with the sense of entertainment and interaction she has been looking for, by being able to touch and actively learn anna will also be able to obtain more of the information that she learns through the escape room as she is no longer a passive learner. Lastly, this event will allow her to make memories and build a closer connection to her friends who she participates with as this kind of experience is unique in comparison to other events and offering at the museum. This event ultimately will finally allow anna to form a personal connection to the museum as she can finally make lasting memories with those she cares about in this space through this event.

The impact of

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Key Metrics to Evaluate Success

Number of return or repeat visitors

Number of people signing up for escape room

Number of positive reviews on Yelp and other reviewing sites

Increased duration of time spend within exhibits and museum as a whole

track through surveys and observational research

Increase in number of tickets sold (visitation) before and after implementation of prototypes

How will we plan to evaluate the degree of success of our solution?

Firstly, we’ll be analyzing success based on the number of return or repeat customers to see how many customers enjoyed the experience and want to come back. Then, we examine the number of positive reviews on Yelp and other reviewing sites. We will then track the amount of people interested in the escape rooms by tracking the number of people signing up for the escape to the past rooms. We also look at the increase in number of tickets sold before and after our solution. Lastly, we’ll examine the amount of time an individual spends at the exhibit through observational research. This will allow us to see how our proposed solution performed and will also allow us to track future rates of expansion for the solution.

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Museum space would have to be used for the escape rooms
Physically building out an escape room could cost upwards of $5,000 (cost for portable escape rooms)
Time and resources would be spent each cycle to design and implement each new escape concept

However, these costs will be offset by the increase in ticket sales, as interest in the museum dramatically increases

Prototype Costs

Now we will discuss the costs associated with Escape to the past Proposal. One cost would be that the museum would have to dedicate a specific room for the escape room to take place in, which may remove some additional space for exhibit materials. As well the Physically building out of an escape room could cost upwards of $5,000 which is similar to costs of portable escape rooms. The museum would also need to spend time and resources on this proposal as they would need a team to operate the room and think of the challenges for the room as well. However, we believe these costs would be offset by the the increase in ticket sales, by having a new escape room every 3 months and by offering points this would draw people back to the museum more often as typically we found people only visit the museum every 4 years. Thus increasing this to at most every 3 months would dramatically increase ticket sales.

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Thank you!