NELSON ATKINS CHILDREN WAY FINDING
For this way finding experience for children Erica and I wanted to challenge the children to think abstractly about the material and processes used to create each of the 6 outlined sculptures in the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art Sculpture Park. The sculptures were represented with a an object which is familiar to children. The icons for these objects are introduced upon opening the map for the first time. This allows the child to become engaged in them and narrows there focus. Here the map explains that the icon is here to lead to you to your friends who will introduce you to the sculptures. At each sculpture the child learns more about how the icon relates to the sculpture, does a short activity, and collects a piece of paper with that icon on it as a token of completion. These pieces of paper can be taken to the arts and crafts tent to allow the children to create a head band or sash for the afternoon parade around the park.
This project was very helpful to my growth as a youth focused designer. I now realize how its important to present children with playful and engaging things, rather then a static composition with bright colors. I also really enojoyed the user testing of the project because of the ability user testing has to reveal a flaw in the design that you may have overlooked. For instance how the children in our user testing experience had a hard time find a sculpture which was represented in a non-pictorial manner, therefore we made the decision to include the teen guides with shirts matching the icons as the new destination.
On a side note I’ve decided to enter my Woven Stripes collection site in the Adobe Design Achievement Awards!
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Enjoy this weather!