Research and Development
My team and I conducted primary and secondary research to determine what type of museum exhibit we wanted to design, with the goal of making it both educational and fun for kids. We interviewed local museum directors and analyzed online articles and scientific papers on what types of museum exhibits kid's seemed to enjoy.
The overwhelming consensus was that the exhibit should be simple enough for kids to understand and interactive in a way that kept kids engaged and interested in learning more. With this in mind, we decided to design an interactive game similar to plinko, where a kid launched a ball and tried to get it to drop into a specific section at the bottom of the board to win.
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The theme of the exhibit we built was "the lifecycle of a bee"-- we wanted to teach kids the importance of bees and what they do for the environment, that different factors can sometimes prevent bees from doing their job, and how we as humans can help make sure that the ecosystem is moving smoothly.
Prototype Building and Environmental Design
Once we had decided on a design for our exhibit, we drafted a pattern for the pieces we needed and then cut them out on our CNC machine. We assembled the prototype with power tools and painted the outside by hand. Then we designed and cut out vinyl decorations for the exhibit and its surrounding environment on a Cricut.
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To make the exhibit more welcoming we found a variety of cute decor, including bee plushies and log pillows for kids to play with and rest on. We also painted and hung up hexagonal wooden panels on the surrounding walls to add to the aesthetic of the area.
Presentation
After we had built our museum exhibit, we designed the surrounding area to be cute and inviting. The final prototype was presented to stakeholders and a small group of kids, who had a lot of fun with the exhibit!
