Dr. Ronny Andrade Parra

The Melbourne Festival was a cultural event that took place in different venues in the city in October It featured scenic and visual arts, such as theatre, dance, music and film. The festival was “one of Australia’s flagship international arts festivals and one of the major multi-arts festivals of the world, in terms of quality of work, innovation of vision, and scale and breadth of program”.

In 2016, the festival organisers wanted to highlight local composers across different venues in the city. The University of Melbourne was chosen to present the works of Percy Grainger. So, as part of my Masters in Information Systems degree, I delivered an assignment proposing the creation an interactive experience to encourage visitors to explore The University of Melbourne’s Parkville campus while learning more about Percy Grainger and his works.

This case study explored the following research question:

How might we design a digital experience that fosters exploration of the physical environment while introducing users to a renowned Melbourne composer?

Interviews and Personas

After conducting a series of interviews with potential festival goers, the following Personas were identified:

• Domestic festival attendee who is actively involved in the arts
• Domestic science student whose partner is a music lover
• International tourist visiting Melbourne for a short stay

Common themes across all interviews and personas included:

• Technology presents an opportunity to interact with artists and artworks, even if it can be disruptive for social interactions
• Our solution should “take advantage of the physical space” and “should be used to connect the venues” where the festival was taking place
• Availability of internet connectivity is an issue, especially for events that attract lots of people, or for foreign visitors without a local SIM card

Rich Picture

A Rich Picture presents a depiction of the primary stakeholders, their interrelationships, and their concerns. The rich picture offers a high-level overview of the context of the problem. If possible, it should show the physical constraints of the problem.

The Rich Picture diagram above shows some of the key stakeholders of the event: organiser, international visitor, artist, and uni student. The diagram also shows a participant of the event, and the physical venues where they must go. The path participants must follow is not straightforward. Finally, the diagram shows some of the key concerns of each stakeholder.

Task definition

Before starting the prototyping stage, the following tasks were identified:

• Get information about the festival and scheduled events
• Plan the visit and locate event venues
• Interact with and enjoy activities available at each venue

Specifically with the task 3, we designed interactive games for users to play and learn about Percy Grainger

Low fidelity (paper) prototype

The video above shows a paper prototype where users can perform the three tasks detailed above: getting information about the venues and events, finding the locations, and enjoying some interactive games.

High fidelity prototype (wireframe)

Through an iterative process, a high fidelity prototype was developed with Axure RP. The prototype refined the tasks outlined on the first stage of the design process. This prototype was then evaluated in the Interaction Design Lab of the University of Melbourne.

Skills: Personas, rich picture, paper prototype, wireframing, eye tracking, usability study