Sea Change
Redesigning the user experience at Sydney Sealife Aquarium
In June 2016, on a cool winter’s night, I started the intensive, three-month UX industry course at Tractor Design School (sadly, the school’s now closed). For the first two months, I had the chance to learn from experienced mentors from Avanade, U1 and Fjord. It was a steep learning curve, every night after work, classes would start at 6 pm and go for 3 hours. It wasn’t easy. I would be eating my sushi rolls and sprinting from Woolloomooloo all the way down to the Surry Hills classroom after work.
Towards the end of the course, we were given a final project to showcase everything we’ve learnt. The brief was to analyse and research The Sydney Sea Life Aquarium experience and discover opportunities and pain points to improve on.
Applying ‘Design Thinking’ in the real world is not easy. After physically visiting the aquarium myself and interviewing random visitors, I found so many missed opportunities in this user journey. How do you narrow it down to one design problem? Andy Polaine, our mentor from Fjord says there’s no right or wrong answer. If the design problem can be solved without building a digital app, so be it. With that in mind, I created my problem statement.
Problem statement
Poor information design throughout Sea Life was disrupting visitors’ journeys. The idea was to create an app that engages visitors before, during and after their visit, so they are well-informed at all times. But in order to create a seamless experience, there also needs to be changes to the physical space.
Ideation
2016 was the year of Pokémon Go. Everyone I knew had downloaded this amazing game (we’re all Gen Y-ers, so that explains). We even did a case study on why it has revolutionalised in-app gaming, so it was natural for me to be inspired by Pokémon Go while creating my digital design solution.
If you’re familiar with Pokémon, you would know that everyone in the Pokémon world owns a Pokédex, a mini-encyclopedia of Pokémon species, types, evolutions, and moves. One of the major pain points for visitors at the aquarium was the lack of information displayed throughout the space. Crowds being confined in a small dark space makes it even harder to access display signages.
So for my digital solution, I wanted to design an app for visitors that automatically display relevant display information based on their location in the aquarium.
Wireframing and testing
We were given 2 weeks to finish the project. It was a mad rush of wireframing and user-testing. Looking back, I wish I could spend more time user-testing the design in the aquarium, and perhaps less time on the UI.
Alice — Your Sea Life Navigator
Inspired by Alice in Wonderland getting lost in wonder, Alice, the assistant app will guide visitors through the aquarium. With the help of beacon technology, Alice will be able to display information, based on a visitor’s location in the aquarium.
Loaded with exhibit information, maps and activity schedules, Alice also helps visitors prepare an itinerary before the day they visit.
Other key features include setting up event reminders for visitors, so they will not miss any talks or animal feedings; pop up animal fun facts for the young and curious. This not only engages them but also prepares them for the ‘Sea Life knowledge test’ in order to win prizes or special offers. Obviously, this was done ultimately to encourage repeat visits.
You can see the full analysis and research here and the final presentation proposal for Sea Change is here.
Final thoughts
It was an exhilarating 3-week sprint. Lots of stress and fun. I’ve received great feedback from the mentors that gave me a real push towards becoming a product designer.
