TASWIRA African Art & Design Gallery

Engaging art gallery visitors through the power of storytelling

Project overview

Located in Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square district, TASWIRA is an African art gallery, retail store, and event space on a mission to empower the local and international African community through art, culture, connection, and collaboration.

For our Master’s Capstone project, my team partnered with TASWIRA’s founder to explore how we might improve the visitor experience and encourage deeper engagement with the space.

After several rounds of research, ideation, and design iteration, our team fabricated and constructed 2 permanent physical installations that leverage storytelling, transparency, and interactive components to contextualize visitors’ experiences, promote trust in the organization, and encourage engagement in unique and tactile ways that facilitate in-depth learning and discovery.
Jump to Design Solution Overview
Installation 1: Mission CubeFull Shot of Turning Panels installation
Final installations: Mission Cube (Top) and Turning Panels (Bottom). Click to expand.
Final installations: Mission Cube (Left) and Turning Panels (Right). Click to expand.

My role: UX designer

I was responsible for establishing the visual aesthetic and tonal direction of our final installations and for ensuring that our design solutions met minimum standards for accessibility.
  • Design requirements: I translated key research insights into actionable design requirements that helped guide our UX strategy and solutions.
  • Design specifications: I defined the scale, dimensions, and positioning of each panel and cube face for optimal viewing, readability, & interaction according to the Smithsonian’s Accessible Exhibition Design Guidelines.
  • Design system: I established our visual and information design systems by defining the colors, typography, and information architecture used across both installations.
  • Content strategy: I took the lead on copywriting and image selection to ensure that we maintained a consistent look, feel, & tone of voice across the storytelling experience.

Project team

Jasmine Brown (UX Researcher)
Jessica Douma (UX Designer)
‍Sierra Jenkins (UX Researcher)
Tabby Safari (UX Designer)

My Primary Contributions

Visual Design, Design Requirements, Design Specifications, Design System, Content Strategy, Copywriting

Project Type

Interaction Design, Exhibition Design, Visual Communication Design, Digital Fabrication, Physical Prototyping

Project Duration

January – June 2023

AWARD

HCDE Impact Award, in recognition of work that "goes above and beyond with respect to equity, justice, the environment, or changing lives". Granted by the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington.

Project Type

Website Redesign
(Master’s Course Project)

Timeline

April 6 – June 18, 2022
‍(10 weeks)

Point of Contact (Client)

Kristine Pham
(Optimism Marketing Director)

Final deliverable

Live SquareSpace Site

Original Design

Original Website Screens

Final Design

Hi-Fi Figma Prototype

Project Team (5)

Jess Hord (Project Manager)
Rodrigo Tarriba (Usability Specialist)
Joyce Chang (Lead UX Researcher)
Vanessa Chien Lai (UI Designer)
Tabby Safari (Lead UX Designer)

Tools

Figma
Illustrator
Photoshop
Optimal Workshop
Heurio
Problem SPACE

What is TASWIRA?

Early user research revealed that the sharing of TASWIRA’s stories and mission happened exclusively through 1:1 conversations with the gallery’s owner/founder, Avery Barnes.

Upon entering the gallery, visitors were met with a vibrant interior exhibiting art from local BIPOC artists alongside an eclectic array of African artifacts, textiles, and handcrafted goods sourced from artisans in Kenya with whom Avery has personal longstanding connections.

However, a lack of signage, background information, and descriptions provided for the gallery’s contents prevented those who did not have the opportunity to interact with Avery from understanding what TASWIRA is, why it exists, and what it has to offer. As a result, these visitors tended to move through and exit the gallery quickly, having missed out on the important grounding context necessary to make sense of their experience.
Wide Shot of the TASWIRA gallery interior before our project.TASWIRA counter and Mission Statement wall
TASWIRA gallery interior before our installations went up. Click to expand.
Our Solution

How might we leverage storytelling to enhance comprehension of TASWIRA’s mission & impact?

Given that storytelling is a vital component of the gallery experience that facilitates learning, understanding, and empathy among visitors, our team set out to explore how we might leverage the power of stories to enhance comprehension of TASWIRA’s mission and encourage deeper visitor engagement.
Our 6 months of research, ideation, and design iteration resulted in 2 permanent interactive installations that provide visitors with rich content and context to form meaningful connections with the people, places, cultures, and artifacts that TASWIRA serves to elevate and highlight.
Full Shot of Turning Panels installation
Person's arm reaching for Instructional Panel
Close up of a Turning Panel
Full Shot of Mission Cube installation
Top Down View of Mission Cube installation
Close up of Primary Mission Cube face welcoming visitors to the gallery
Close up of Mission Cube Face
Final Turning Panels and Mission Cube installations. Click to expand.
Mapping research insights to design decisions

Design justifaction

We arrived at our design solutions through a data-driven approach rooted in the key insights we uncovered through our user research. Below is an overview of how we addressed each insight through intentional design decisions.
01

Building trust through transparency

Visitors were skeptical of the authenticity of TASWIRA’s philanthropic statements due to the lack of transparency into how the gallery fulfills its mission and acquires cultural artifacts.

Communicating the how & why

  • Hard numbers & specifics: Both installations leverage transparency by providing visitors with hard numbers and specifics pertaining to TASWIRA’s philanthropic efforts, donation metrics, and artifact sourcing & acquisition practices.
  • Illuminating personal connections: Our Turning Panels installation highlights the longstanding personal relationships between Avery (TASWIRA owner/founder) and the artisans in Kenya who handcraft TASWIRA’s retail products.
Digital Rendering of Turning Panel Content detailing TASWIRA's lifetime donation metrics as onf June 2023
Digital Rendering of Turning Panel Content detailing Artifact Sourcing and Acquisition Practices
Digital Rendering of Turning Panel Content detailing TASWIRA's relationship with the Bamburi Women's Empowerment Center
Close Up of Turning Panels Face: Mission
Close Up of Turning Panels: Finding Community
02

Executing with intention

Intentionality in the arrangement, presentation, and grouping of artifacts, and in the overall flow and zoning of the space guides and supports visitors’ actions and interactions within the gallery.
Scaled TASWIRA floor plan illustrating where & when our solutions are encountered along the typical visitor journey. Click to expand.
Scaled TASWIRA floor plan illustrating where & when our solutions are encountered along the typical visitor journey. Click to expand.

Strategic locations

  • Providing answers up front: Intentionally placed at the start of the typical visitor journey, the Mission Cube sets the stage for a successful gallery experience by priming visitors with a with a TL;DR on what TASWIRA is, why it exists, and how the organization fulfills its mission.
  • Tying up loose ends: Strategically placed toward the end of the visitor journey, the Turning Panels close the loop on the gallery experience by inviting visitors to uncover more in-depth information about TASWIRA’s history, mission, values, and impact after they’ve had a chance to explore the space.
Close up of interaction instructions on Primary mission cube faceClose up of fixed interaction instructions mounted onto the Mission Cube podium. Text reads "Spin the Cube"Person's arm reaching for Instructional Panel

Intentional affordances

Providing explicit instructions: Due to TASWIRA’s status as an art gallery, visitors were hesitant to touch things without explicit permission. Both installations leverage clear affordances and explicit instructions to help visitors feel confident and comfortable in their interactions.
03

Striving for harmony

Visitors wanted more consistency across the look, feel, and quality of touch points and experiences within the gallery. Elements that felt out of place to visitors stirred feelings of confusion and ambivalence that ultimately distracted from their experience.

Achieving balance through simplicity

  • Avoiding excess ornamentation: To ensure we adhered to a consistent design language and extended existing affordances within the gallery, we utilized minimal colors, simple geometric shapes, and natural wood materials.
  • Intentional color choices: We intentionally selected Black and White in a matte finish as our primary colors to ensure that our installations would coexist harmoniously with the rich and vibrant colors often featured throughout the gallery.
  • Reflecting our surroundings: For our accent color, we chose BEHR’s Morocco Red in a chalk finish for its resemblance to red ochre, a natural clay earth pigment used to achieve the red hues featured across several of TASWIRA’s African artifacts and sculptural pieces.
3 painted wooden blocks representing the minimal color palette used across our installations: Matte Black, Matte White, and Morocco Red in a chalk finish
4 images of various artifacts in the TASWIRA art gallery featuring red ochre pigment. Top left: Ceremonial vase. Top right: Ceremonial vase. Bottom lefT: Traditional African mask. Bottom right: Mother of Maasai sculpture.
Artifacts in the gallery featuring the natural red ochre pigment that inspired our accent color choice.
04

Designing for flexibility

TASWIRA appeals to a broad spectrum of visitors who seek varying levels of depth and engagement in their gallery experiences.
Bite snack meal design framework used for Turning Panels installationBite snack meal design framework used for Mission Cube installation
“Bite, Snack, Meal” framework applied to Turning Panels (top) and Mission Cube (bottom) content.

Layering Content & Context

Bite, snack, meal: I used the “bite, snack, meal” design framework to layer and structure the content featured across both installations in a way that allowed skimmers, in-depth readers, and everyone in between to walk away from the experience with a solid understanding of TASWIRA’s purpose, mission, and values.
Breakdown of how the content on the front/back of 2 adjacent panels relate to one another
Example of how the content on the front and back of adjacent panels relate to one another. Click to expand.

Letting visitors choose their own adventures

Predictable information design system: We took special care to craft a consistent system for what content should be paired on the front/back of individual and surrounding panels to ensure that information would be coherent and impactful regardless of the order in which the panels are encountered.
4 figures from the Smithsonian's accessible exhibition design guidelines illustrating best practices for typography and object positioning.
Source: Smithsonian Accessible Exhibition Design Guidelines

Prioritizing accessibility

Establishing an inclusive design foundation: To ensure that visitors of all abilities could easily access and experience our installations, I defined the scale, dimensions, typography, and positioning of each panel and cube face for optimal viewing, readability, and reachability according to the Smithsonian’s Accessible Exhibition Design Guidelines.
05

Contextualizing the visitor experience

Visitors were looking for 3 different layers of context across their gallery experience:
  • Layer 1: Gallery-level context (mission, purpose, impact)
  • Layer 2: Artifact-level context (who, what, where, when)
  • Layer 3: Significance-related context (why, how)

Priming visitors for optimal learning & Engagement

  • Setting the stage: The Mission Cube introduces visitors to the gallery with the foundational (Layer 1) context they need to understand TASWIRA's purpose, mission, and vision.
  • Leading with a question: The Mission Cube's content was intentionally designed to encourage visitors to uncover the answer to the question, What is TASWIRA?
Installation 1: Mission CubeClose up of Primary Mission Cube face welcoming visitors to the galleryClose up of Mission Cube Face Mission Cube Face 3: Vision

Facilitating connections

Centering the artists and makers: Our Turning Panels installation creates an enriching storytelling experience by providing all 3 layers of context in the form of headlines, text, and photos that allow visitors to form deep and meaningful connections with the people, places, cultures, artwork, and artifacts that comprise TASWIRA.
Visitors engaging with turning panels intallation2 visitors engaging with the Turning panels installation

How we got there...

OUR PROCESS

We followed an iterative user-centered design methodology to arrive at our design solutions.  
Skip to design phase
01

Research

02

DEFINE

03

ideation

04

DESIGN & EVALUATION

Click on the linked sections above to jump to the corresponding content
Uncovering Problems & opportunities

Research

01
Exploratory research
02
Generative research
03
Key insights
Our team conducted 2 phases of research. During Phase 1 (Exploratory), we identified several potential opportunities for improvement within the gallery as well as constraints that we would need to consider over the course of our project. Our findings helped us narrow our scope, eventually leading us to focus our efforts on storytelling.
During Phase 2 (Generative), we used novel research methods to uncover key barriers and pain points throughout the visitor experience that, when addressed, would allow visitors to fully immerse themselves in TASWIRA’s rich offerings.
JUMP TO KEY RESEARCH INSIGHTS
Research — Part 1 of 3

Exploratory research

Methods

Stakeholder interviews
Kicking off the research phase with this method gave us insight into the mission, vision, and goals of TASWIRA's founder (Avery Barnes) as well as her primary business needs and pain points.
Behavioral Observation
These contextual observations helped us understand how visitors engage with the gallery and ultimately revealed how essential Avery is to the TASWIRA gallery experience.
Behavior Mapping
While low foot traffic prevented us from collecting enough data to draw definitive conclusions, this method revealed emergent movement patterns that crystallized upon further research.
Visitor Experience Survey
Survey responses gave us insight into visitors’ perceptions of the space and revealed potential mismatches between what visitors expect from and experience at TASWIRA.

Preliminary findings

FINDING #01
The sharing of TASWIRA’s stories and mission happen exclusively through 1:1 conversations with Avery.
FINDING #02
TASWIRA’s retail and philanthropic functions are unexpected and undiscoverable to most visitors.

Challenges & constraints

In addition to the preliminary findings outlined above, our exploratory research also illuminated a number of challenges and constraints that ultimately influenced our project direction and scope.
Undocumented stories
Regular meetings and interviews with our client revealed an abundance of rich and powerful stories that existed only in her head. For this reason, any stories or context we wanted to introduce to the gallery would have to be written entirely from scratch by our team.
One woman show
Because our client was a one woman show, single-handedly running a new and fairly complex business with minimal external support, we decided that our final deliverable must be constrained to a solution that requires minimal time and effort for her to maintain.
Gallry in flux
Due to the centrality of events and rotating artist exhibitions to TASWIRA’s operations, our team had to continually adjust our research and design strategy to address a physical space whose layout, setup, and content changes on a monthly (sometimes weekly) basis.

Narrowing our scope to storytelling

While our exploratory research uncovered a wide array of potential opportunity areas, our team decided to focus our efforts on storytelling for two reasons.

  • First, we strongly believed that improving storytelling within the gallery would provide much needed context and create opportunities for connection with visitors, thereby directly or tangentially impacting all other problem areas.
  • Second, storytelling remained central to the visitor experience despite the gallery’s ever-changing layout and contents, thereby giving our team more control over our remaining research and design iterations.
Snapshot of our team's miro board outlining the opportunity areas revealed through discovery research.
Opportunity areas revealed through exploratory research.
Research — Part 2 of 3

Generative research

We recruited 6 participants who had never been to TASWIRA. Each participant completed 60-minute sessions comprised of 2 research activities (described below).
Jasmine Brown (UX Researcher) moderating a storytelling investigation interview with a participant in the TASWIRA gallery.
UX researcher, Jasmine Brown (left) moderating a storytelling investigation interview with a participant (right) at the gallery.

Methods

Emoji-Item Association 🙂😯🤔😕
Inspired by IDEO’s Word-Concept Association method, we provided participants with 2 sets of 4 specific emojis on individual sticky notes and asked them to place each emoji on an item or area of the gallery that evoked the corresponding emotion or reaction from them. We then used their placed emojis as jumping off points for discussion about their attitudes and sentiments toward each highlighted element.

This activity provided our team with rich qualitative insights into how participants perceive and interpret the current gallery experience as well as which elements within the space were informing those perceptions and why.
4 different emojis on sticky notes placed on various items in the gallery by participants during our Emoji-Item Association activity
Emojis placed around the gallery by various participants.
Storytelling investigation interviews
During these structured interviews, we presented participants with a series of 7 story cards that I wrote following extensive content acquisition interviews with our client.

After reading each card, we asked participants follow-up questions to understand their initial reactions to the story and how their perceptions of TASWIRA may have changed after receiving the additional context.
4 of the 7 story cards used for storytelling investigation interviews
4 of the 7 story cards used for investigation interviews. Click to expand.
Research — Part 3 of 3

Key insights

Our generative research revealed 4 key insights regarding visitors’ perceptions of TASWIRA, why they held these attitudes, and what could be done within the gallery to improve their comprehension of TASWIRA’s mission and impact.
INSIGHT #01 — TRANSPARENCY

Visitors' ethical concerns deistract from their gallery experience

Transparency is essential for instilling trust in visitors. Without it, visitors are skeptical of the authenticity of TASWIRA’s philanthropic statements and hesitant to enthusiastically support the gallery’s mission.
INSIGHT #02 — CONTEXT

Proper context sets the stage for a meaningful gallery experience

The lack of context and background information provided for various artifacts limits the educational impact and overall value of the gallery experience, leaving visitors confused and unable to fully understand or make sense of the space.
INSIGHT #03 — CONNECTION

Visitors inherently seek out patterns, relationships, & connections

Visitors’ ability to establish personal connections with and draw connections between the various artifacts, items, and people associated with TASWIRA drives emotional engagement, strengthens lasting impressions, and deepens the impact of the gallery experience.
INSIGHT #04 — intentionality

Visitors need clear & consistent affordances to guide their interactions 

Visitors' predominant perceptions of TASWIRA as an art gallery makes them hesitant to touch anything (including retail items) without explicit permission. Clear and intentional affordances are needed to guide and support visitors’ engagement and interactions within the gallery.
Specifying user needs & requirements

Define

To ensure that we addressed the key insights we uncovered from our generative research, we used a data-driven approach to define our target users and design requirements.
01
User mindsets
02
Design requirements
Define — Part 1 of 2

User mindsets

Our user research revealed that visitors come to TASWIRA with a broad range of goals and expectations, seeking varying levels of depth and engagement in their gallery experience.

To represent this breadth as much as possible, we defined our target audience using mindsets rather than personas. Drawing from Dr. John H. Falk’s extensive research on museum audience segmentation, we clustered our target users into 5 archetypal mindsets that represent the fundamental motivations visitors seek to satisfy through TASWIRA.

Explorers

Want to discover and learn new information to satisfy their curiosities and expand their knowledge.

Experience seekers

Want to see the most renowned pieces and make memories.

Social Facilitators

Want to engage their companions in a meaningful social experience.

Enthusiasts

Want to see and study specific pieces, exhibits, and installations.

Rechargers

Want to have a relaxing, restorative experience in a peaceful environment.
Define — Part 2 of 2

Design requirements

Building on the key insights we uncovered from our generative research, I crafted 5 design requirements to guide our design strategy and solutions.

Build trust through transparency

Our solution must build trust and affinity with visitors by communicating the who, what, why, and how behind TASWIRA’s mission and philanthropic efforts clearly and authentically. Doing so mitigates the risk of ethical concerns clouding the gallery experience, freeing visitors to position themselves in a frame of mind for optimal learning and engagement.

Be flexible

Our solution must be flexible enough to accommodate visitors seeking varying levels of depth and engagement while ensuring that every layer of the experience clues them into the underlying narrative. Affordances should act as clues and suggestions that encourage visitors to learn, discover, explore, interpret, and reinterpret the experience at the pace and level of depth of their choosing.

Execute with intention

Every aspect of the experience must anticipate and intentionally cater to visitors’ needs, goals, and questions. By ensuring that every touch point serves a clear and intuitive purpose, our solution helps visitors easily navigate and make sense of their experience, thereby setting the stage for deeper levels of engagement.

Strive for harmony

Our solution must coexist with its surroundings by maintaining a consistent and cohesive look, feel, and tone across all user touch points. The design achieves balance through simplicity, striving to elevate and enhance the experience without overwhelming, overpowering, or distracting from the key elements that our solution serves to highlight.

Educate, inform, & inspire

Our solution must provide clear and sufficient context when and where necessary to create an enriching storytelling experience that allows visitors to form meaningful connections with the people, places, cultures, artwork, and artifacts that TASWIRA serves to highlight.

Mapping requirements to design decisions

To see how we addressed each design requirement through our final installations, jump back up to the Design Justification section.
BACK TO DESIGN JUSTIFICATION
Generating ideas toward a solution

ideation

At this point in the project, we had 10 weeks left to ideate, design, test, and deliver our final solutions. To keep our team on track, Jasmine (our acting PM) drafted a project roadmap comprised of overlapping design and evaluative research phases that were each broken into a series of week-long sprints.
design sprint schedule
01
Brainstorming
02
Concept sketches
03
Concept testing
IDEATION — Part 1 of 3

Brainstorming

Turning panels installation at the Bill & Melinda Gates Discovery center in Seattle, WA

Gathering inspiration

Each team member visited different local galleries and museums to gather inspiration for our ideation sessions. The installation pictured above from my visit to the Bill & Melinda Gates Discovery Center served as one of our primary points of inspiration.
Artifact from our crazy 8's exercise showing 8 different sketches drawn on a single piece of paper

crazy 8's

For this activity, each team member had to sketch out 8 ideas in 8 minutes related a specific design question or challenge. We completed 3 rounds of 8-minute sprints, resulting in 24 sketches each.
Snapshot from our round robin FigJam workspace

ROUND ROBIN

We built upon the 10 most promising concepts generated through our Crazy 8's by passing our original sketches to a different team member for feedback. A third team member then refined the original concept by drawing a new sketch that addressed the feedback.
IDEATION — Part 2 of 3

Concept sketches

Following our Round Robin sessions, our team converged on the top 3 concepts that we believed best addressed visitor needs while adhering to our design requirements. Jessica and I then re-sketched two versions of each idea to use for concept testing:
Concept 1A sketch: Turning panels system co-located on a single wall in the gallery Concept 1B sketch: Turning panels system scattered across several areas throughout the gallery to give context to specific artifacts and artwork
Concept 1: Turning Panels System
Co-located (left), scattered (right)
Concept 1: Turning Panels System
Co-located (top), scattered (bottom)
Concept 2A sketch: Map of Kenya with call outs and images connected to various locations, representing TASWIRA's connections throughout KenyaConcept 2B sketch: Map of Seattle with call outs and images connected to various locations, representing TASWIRA's connections to different parts of the city
Concept 2: Mapping Connections
Kenya map (top), Seattle map (bottom)
Concept 2: Mapping Connections
Kenya map (left), Seattle map (right)
Concept 3A sketch: Videos co-located on different faces of a large structural pillar near the entrance of the galleryConcept 3B sketch: Several videos scattered throughout the gallery to give context to specific artifacts and installations
Concept 3: Video Frames
Co-located (top), scattered (bottom)
Concept 3: Video Frames
Co-located (left), scattered (right)
IDEATION — Part 3 of 3

Concept testing

Using our refined sketches, we conducted remote concept testing sessions with our client and 5 participants. These interviews allowed us to:
  • Gather pros and cons for each concept
  • Learn what kind of content and context participants found most valuable
  • Uncover how we might combine elements from different concepts to create an engaging visitor experience
Screenshot of me and my teammate, Jasmine Brown during a remote concept testing session with a participant on zoom
Me (bottom) and Jasmine (middle) moderating a remote concept testing session with a participant (top).
bringing our ideas to life

Design & evaluation

With one month to hand-off, we spent the remainder of the project iteratively refining and testing our designs, building from rough concepts to fully realized physical design solutions that satisfied our users’ needs and client’s goals.

Since Jessica was the only person on our team with digital fabrication experience, I was in charge of laying out the digital design foundation to set her up for success during the physical prototyping phase.
01
Low-fidelity prototypes
02
Mid-fidelity prototypes
03
Evaluative testing
04
High-fidelity design & fabrication
Design & Evaluation — Part 1 of 4

Low-fideity prototypes

User feedback inspired 2 key changes to our initial design concepts, which I visualized through low-fidelity digital mock-ups build in Figma.
Concept sketch 1A (co-located Turning Panels) and concept sketch 2A (Mapping Connections to Africa)

01. Combining Turning panel & Map Concepts

  • Participants had strong preferences for our co-located Turning Panels and Africa Map concepts because they provided context at the levels that they desired without distracting from the art and artifacts in the gallery.
  • To address concerns about the Africa Map taking up too much valuable wall space, we combined our Africa Map and Turning Panel System into one concept (see below).
Low-fidelity, digitally-rendered turning panels prototype built to scale in Figma
Low-fidelity digital mock-up I built to scale in Figma to visualize our combined "Turning Panels" and "Mapping Connections to Africa" concepts.

02. New Mission Cube COncept

Participants appreciated how our original Africa Map concept provided foundational context into TASWIRA’s mission and history immediately upon entering the gallery, so we came up with a new interactive solution that would allow us to provide similar context at the first stop along the typical visitor journey.
Scaled TASWIRA floor plan illustrating where & when our solutions are encountered along the typical visitor journey.
Scaled TASWIRA floor plan illustrating where & when our solutions would be encountered along the typical visitor journey.
Early scale mock up visualizing our new Mission Cube concept, which would be mounted on an existing permanent structure within the gallery.
Early scale mock up visualizing our Mission Cube concept, which would be mounted on an existing permanent structure within the gallery.
Design & Evaluation — Part 2 of 4

Mid-fidelity prototypes

Equipped with digital mock-ups and a much clearer vision for our proposed solutions, we started bringing our ideas to life through physical mid-fidelity prototypes and set them up in the gallery for evaluative testing.
Mid-fidelity Mission Cube set up in the gallery for evaluative testing. Click to expand.

Mission Cube prototype

Constructed out of an 18x18” cardboard box and printer paper then mounted onto a Lazy Susan to allow spinning.
Mid-fidelity prototype set up in the gallery for evaluative testing. Click to expand.

Turning panels prototype

Built using cardboard, printer paper, PVC pipe, masking tape, and 2x4’ wood beams. To enable turning, Jessica 3D-printed custom pieces that the cardboard could attach to while rotating around the PVC pipe.
Design & Evaluation — Part 3 of 4

Evaluative testing

We conducted 45-minute evaluative research sessions with 6 participants (half of whom had never visited the gallery) to test the usability and effectiveness of our design solutions for both new and returning visitors.

While all participants found our prototypes effective and valuable, their feedback helped us identify a few inconsistencies between our designs and visitors’ mental models with regard to how they “should” interact with the installations.
My teammate, Sierra Jenkins interviewing a participant about the mission cube during an evaluative testing session at the gallery.
My teammate, Sierra Jenkins during an evaluative testing session at the gallery.

Applying evaluative testing feedback

The feedback we received from evaluative testing ultimately helped us 1) refine the content across both prototypes and 2) enhance the consistency and discoverability of our interactive affordances. Below are animated demonstrations of the key design changes I made to address user feedback:
NOTE: Animated demos are viewable on desktop devices only.

Mission Cube design changes

Turning Panels design changes

Design & Evaluation — Part 4 of 4

High-fidelity design & fabrication

At this point in the project, we had less than 3 weeks to determine and source our building materials, finalize our content, fabricate and assemble the components for each installation, and construct them in the gallery.
Our team during our first day of fabrication at The Mill, a student maker space at the University of Washington.
Our team during our first day of fabrication. L to R: Jessica Douma, Jasmine Brown, me, Sierra Jenkins.
Jessica sliding our first laser cut turning panel over a wooden dowel to allow spinningA miniature version of our mission cube laser cut to scale to test our friction fit close up of a miniature version of a turning panel face with white spray painted letters to test color contrast and legibility.
close up of the plastic ring that each turning panel sits on when slid onto the wooden dowel to allow 360 degree rotationpeeling protective painter's tape off a laser cut and spray painted panel face5 different methods of securing photos to our turning panels to reduce glare

Materials testing

We started the fabrication process by performing several test prints on the laser cutter to pinpoint its tolerance and achieve a tight friction fit for our turning panel and mission cube boxes.

We also performed test prints of our laser-engraved content to assess the legibility of our font sizes, font weights, and colors.

Additionally, we experimented with several methods for securing photos with reduced glare, including vinyl print-outs, modge podging, and vinyl overlays.

Fabrcation & construction process

Watch the video for an overview of the design and fabrication processes that went into our final installations.

Jump back up to the solution section for a breakdown of how we addressed our research insights and design principles through intentional design decisions.  
BACK TO Solution BREAKDOWN

Outcome & reflection

$970
Total cost of materials
271
Number of laser cut components
42hrs
Total fabrication time
27hrs
Total construction time

Impact

Our installations became permanent fixtures at the TASWIRA African Art & Design gallery on May 28, 2023. As of September 2023, our installations have positively impacted our client in the following ways:
  • Increased the average amount of time visitors spend in the gallery.
  • Promoted retail sales by introducing visitors to the artisans whose work fills the gallery and providing transparency into how their purchases support the work and livelihoods of these artists.
  • Alleviated the burden of storytelling on our client (who has since hired an employee to help her cover shifts at the gallery).

Award

We presented our project to a panel of UX industry experts who served as guest judges at the HCDE Capstone Showcase event on May 31, 2023. During the event, judges recognized teams with awards in the categories of Bravery, Innovation, and Impact.

Out of 51 contenders, our project received the Impact Award, which recognizes teams that "go above and beyond with respect to equity, justice, the environment, or changing lives".
Our Project Team at the HCDE Capstone Showcase Event. L to R: Jasmine Brown, Jessica Douma, me, and Sierra Jenkins.
Project Team at the HCDE Capstone Showcase event. L to R: Jasmine Brown, Jessica Douma, me, and Sierra Jenkins.

Expert feedback

The team overcame multiple challenges (finding participants, low fidelity testing) to make a high quality solution with real world implications. This was a project about community and building awareness and a pipeline between artists and buyers. They produced a high-context, themed design that solved their problem with minimal cost. Their solution was not digital, but instead a well thought out industrial design.
Daniel Aldridge
Product Designer V, Meta
They identified that educating the audience though the power of stories to bring justice work to life was key, and they did it beautifully. They made creative use of existing techniques on a very limited budget. And they proposed, designed, and built a physical installation which none of them had any prior experience with. Very challenging and brave!
Carol A. Taylor
Former Principle Design Director, Microsoft
The work is thoughtful and beautiful, and your deliverable connects the dots between your goals, the research and the results. It is well done and speaks of quality. Congratulations on your accomplishment!
Ruth Kikin-Gil
Responsible AI Strategist & Senior UX Designer, Microsoft
Congratulations Team TASWIRA!! So much impact and going outside of your comfort zone. I am so happy for you!
Daniella Kim
Senior UX Researcher, Google

Reflection

Fabrication is time intensive, expensive, & error prone

As a team with no prior physical prototyping experience, fabricating and constructing two large scale installations was extremely rewarding, but it was also time consuming, expensive, exhausting, and error prone. Our team quickly realized why many design agencies outsource fabrication.

For Physical Prototypes, Buy-In Hinges on Higher Fidelity

Because physical prototypes are much more tangible than software and low-fidelity wireframes, their level of fidelity has a greater impact on stakeholder buy-in. Our team needed to create a single, high fidelity example to generate emotional and financial buy-in from our client.

dESIGNING TO Supplement Rather than Replace Human interaction IS CHALLENGING

Because Avery (TASWIRA owner/founder) is such a central component of the gallery experience, it was critical that our solution not replace her role as the keeper and relayer of TASWIRA’s stories, but rather provide her with talking points to facilitate conversations with visitors. It required care and finesse to write content that satisfied visitors’ needs and questions while leaving space for meaningful engagement with Avery.

Designing for the Physical World Is (Mostly) Similar to Designing for the Digital

Our team gained invaluable experience in adapting our digital UX design and research expertise to meet the unique requirements and constraints of a physical space. Although the core of our human centered design process remained the same, thoughtful adaptations were needed to apply our digital design knowledge to the physical world.
NEXT PROJECT: Optimism Brewing
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