Welcome to the
DENVER
ZOO KIOSK PROPOSAL
The first zoo experience is one you will always remember.
Walking through the big gates of the zoo transported you to the heat of the African plains, or the dense jungle wilderness of South America. You were able to witness the life that thrives in these environments, and come face to face creatures that you could only find in books. Now, you not only see them, but you can hear them, smell them, and, on rare occasions, even touch them.
Whether it be with school on a field trip, as a parent, with friends, family, or even by yourself, the zoo offers much more than just an afternoon away.
Denver Zoo Mission: To provide a wildlife conservancy which offers high-quality experiences in an urban recreational setting. To provide environmental education which inspires public awareness of global conservation. To engage in scientific programs which make meaningful contributions to the conservation of animals and their ecosystems.
Denver Zoo Vision: Denver Zoo will be internationally respected as a leader in animal care and exhibition, conservation programs, scientific study, environmental education and public service.
In 2006 the population of Denver, and surrounding suburbs was 566,974. 26.9 Million people visit Denver every year. 4,939,456 call Colorado home. The amount of visitors that the Denver Zoo had in 2006 was 1,711,593. Something does not add up...
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/08000.html
Plans For Development:
“Denver Zoo’s Master Plan is currently being implemented to dramatically improve the lives of animals and enhance educational resources for families. The Master Plan creates a family adventure in which visitors will stroll winding paths to view animals roaming within natural habitats that look and feel like the wild. Habitat improvements will replace the Zoo’s antiquated core with state-of-the-art animal homes that are both physically and psychologically stimulating.”
-www.Denverzoo.org
The Problem:
“After more than a century of educating and entertaining families at its 80-acre site, the Zoo is suffering the strains of time, and several of the animal habitats are in critical need of updating and replacement.�
Most of the Zoo's core exhibits were designed with 50-year-old technology that is now obsolete, which is very apparent when visiting. With the great number of visitors per year the zoo is in dire need of updates. Besides the actually environments that the animals reside in, the presentation of exhibits themselves need to be updated as well.
The informational signs that can be seen throughout the park are victims of accidental defacement from years of use and constant physical contact. The signs are also permanent structures that are not very easily updated or manipulated, and they do not invite any interaction or participation. They are more like a map on the wall than a tour guide showing all of the hidden secrets and fun information.
The main focus of the zoo is to educate and enhance the lives of the animals, and it is currently not being successfully accomplished to the satisfaction of zoo guest and zoo administration alike.
:SIGNAGE
Research
What did each image on the previous page have in common?
NO PEOPLE!!! With all of the money being invested in the production of these exhibit signs, no one really takes the time to stand around and read them. Most of the signs are also in obscure areas that are hidden by foliage, or are just off to the side enough that you wouldn’t know it was there. I looked at four different groups of people, and tried to determine how they each experience the zoo. With those observations, I then pursued the best route to connect to them, while getting them involved with each exhibit.
Design Personas
Profession: Mother of three
Profession: Kid
Age: 34
Age: 7
Location: Dover, NH
School Level: 1st Grade Location: Dover, NH
Shelley MacGregor is a thirty-four year old mother of three that loves being with her kids. She believes that a good education is
Will MacGregor is a seven year old student/kid that loves to play
important to the foundation of her childrens’ well-being and
with his friends. Will loves to learn a lot of cool new things that he
future. However, she is not only the mother of three children,
can then share with his friends. His dream is to go to college and
but of three off the wall boys. It is a hassle to take the children to
then open a farm with lots of animals. He loves animals.
certain places because they have to be entertained to be peaceful. Shelley would like a place to take her children that will educate
Because Will loves animals, he loves going to the zoo. Not only
them, while keeping them focused and under control.
can he see the animals, but he can learn new and interesting facts about them. Will had a great time at the zoo last time, but the ani-
Shelley loves the zoo, but feels that there is not enough interac-
mals that he really wanted to see, like the lions and gorillas, were
tion for the children and she tends to get lost, especially when
all sleeping out of site. All he could see where their tails. He had a
nature calls. She would like a zoo experience to be just that, an
good time, but wish that he could have seen more of his favorite
experience, but in the fun way. She doesn’t want to worry if her
animals.
children will have fun or not, and she also wants the trip to be worthwhile since she is paying for it.
Goals: -Have fun
Goals:
-See Animals
-Keep children busy and occupied
-Have fun
-Educate her children
-Eat Candy
-Have trip be worth the money spent
-Have fun
-Have easy access to location through park
-Play Games
-Wear children out -Have fun
Profession: Elementary School Teacher
Profession: Restaurant Server
Age: 27
Age: 27
Teaching Experience: 6 years
Location: Boulder, CO
Location: Exeter, NH Joe is a twenty-seven year old restaurant employee that enjoys goAmy Brown is an elementary school teacher. She is currently
ing to the zoo to relax and unwind. He has been coming to the zoo
teaching fourth grade at the Marston Elementary in Hampton, NH.
since his friend was an employee and gave him an insider’s look.
She has taught all grade levels from first through six.
He used to not enjoy the park as much. Joe loves to walk through the park and see the animals, but doesn’t always like the crowds
She is always looking for new teaching techniques and ideas. She
and waiting in line because it is stressful. Now Joe would like to be
also has a large classroom of twenty-four children, with varying
able to walk through the zoo at his own pace and learn about the
levels of learning and comprehension. When she takes the class
animals and new events.
on field trips she would like them to help with a lesson or just be informative for her students, while being fun at the same time.
Joe has an internet access on his phone and would love to view the zoo without pushing through the crowds. He has headphones
Goals:
in his ears to listen to music on his phone, and would like to incor-
-Have fun, entertaining lessons and trips
porate that into his visit. The headphones cancel the noise from
-Have a resource for teaching lessons
the children running around, but also gives him entertainment to
-Have access to zoo information to plan trip (what will the students see)
relax.
-Have a medium that will teach all learning levels -Keep the attention span of 24 children
Goals:
-Have easy way to track location and route through zoo.
-To relax from work
-Security of students.
-See the animals -Be part of the zoo experience -Have technology help with the experience -Have fun
What did each visitors on the previous page have in common?
They all want to
HAVE FUN!!! Everyone wants to have fun at the zoo, but how do you get people to do more than run through the zoo?
The answer that I have come to conclude is to have each exhibit be an interactive experience, that everyone can be involved in and even participate.
Enter: The Solution
An interactive, touch screen kiosk...
Statement of purpose: The purpose of this project is to educate and entertain guests of the zoo, while increasing the amount of visitors and popularity of the zoo.
Value proposition: The value of this product would come more from the educational and informational aspect of the kiosk. There, hopefully, would be a increase in visitors and revenue to the zoo. General user goals: The goals of the user would be to interact with the animals in a greater fashion than is currently available.
System objectives:
Zoo Kiosk
To provide an interactive and fun educational experience to zoogoers. To help create a better understanding of each individual animal and establish a personal bond between the guest and animal.
Constraints: technology • $ • portability • weather • wear and tear • usability • ability to update • accessibility
What are your goals for the environment or service? To make the zoo more fun and more humane. By giving a name and face to each animal, people will hopefully be attracted to them and want to help, not just view.
What are relevant business goals that will affect this project? Attract wider range of guests and make zoo more informational and friendly.
What existing product, environment or service can provide insight into what you are trying to develop? Restaurant POS systems, Kiosk at NOAA museum, ATM machines, touch screen Kiosks
Who are my users? Children and adults alike
What are the users needs? Easy controls, durability, visual/audible stimuli, instant grat.
How can we break down our audience in to clearly articulated user segments? Linked to current zoo website. View each kiosk from home, or through zoo with phone. Able to watch animals from the comfort of home or iphone.
How should my product behave? Like a restaurant POS with large buttons and visual cues
Based on the Strategy and Scope of the project, what features will be required? Large screen, touch kiosk w/screen, weather proofing, plastic shield.
What information will need to presented to our users? Videos of animal in wild • stats • history (how got to zoo) • name • basic information • audio • fun facts • Live video • Map • Zoo Updates • Donations
Other question: How long do people stay at each exhibit? Which animals would be better to have kiosks? Can all have one? How much information should kiosk present? What is zoo really missing? Who do people come to the zoo? Would people use this device?
Currently, the zoo is using kiosks at the front gate for the sole purpose of member sign in. Can this be harnest and developed further?
Each exhibit with a kiosk will essential have its own website that is specifically designed for that area of the zoo and can be updated at anytime. The kiosks can also be linked to each other, creating and intricate network of information waiting to be tapped into. Instead of boring old posters and signs, people will be able to interact with the exhibit in a whole new way. Live video, audio, and fun facts can be presented. The kiosk also allows for the opportunity for each visitor to meet the animals on a personal level through stories, and updates of what is going on with them. Guest can even join an email list from the kiosks that will send them emails on their favorite animals, which will create an interest to return to the zoo.
Scenarios
It is the time in the school year that Amy wants to start teaching her students about the lifecycles of plants and animals. Amy wants to do something fun for her students and want to plan a fieldtrip to the zoo to see some of the examples from class in person. Amy isn’t sure what the zoo has to cover her teaching plan, so she visits the website of the zoo. While at the website, Amy is able to search through the exhibits and even see live video feed of what her students are going to see, and even the course that the students should take throughout the zoo . With this, she is able to plan the lesson for the trip and take the students around the exhibits quckly and effectively. On the day of the field trip, Amy follows the course that she has layed out for the class,. When she arrives at the first exhibit, she accesses the kiosk. The kiosk is an exact replication of the website, so she is able to move through the information with ease. She knows where she wants to go and what part of the lessons that she wants to teach. As she goes through the information, it is projected on the large screen TV above, allowing each child to participate in the lesson. Amy then lets the children explore the information on their own. With this information, Amy was able to take the classroom setting to the zoo and have a greater impact on her kids.
Will loves the zoo and all of the animals. He is inquisitive and wants to know everything about them. When he arrives at the zoo he runs straight to the lion exhibit at the entrance of the zoo. When the flash finally stops it is at the kiosk. He presses on the screen which displays the zoo’s logo and instructions on how to start. There is also a hand gesture that leads Will to start. Will navigates throught the pages by looking at the icons provided on the screen. He is in a high reading level, but the icons are what lead him. Will wants to get a closer view of the lions because they are sleeping out on the rocks, and he views the camera icon on the screen. He then presses on the screen and the +/- icons to zoom. The actions that occur on the screen infront of him are also being projected on two large screens above his head. Other people are gathering around to see what Will is doing. As he navigates back to the navigation screen, Will wants to hear the lions roar, so he go the audio section, labeled with text and icon of an ear. There are a few choices, but Will presses through them and enjoys the sound bytes. He is then done and walks away. No one uses the screen in the next 3 minutes and it resets back to the original instructional screen that Will first encountered.
Story Boards
Story Boards
THE PROP0SED VISUAL INTERFACE
As guests approach the kiosks, they will be welcomed with imagery and vibrant colors. This is in hopes that people will quickly engage in the screen and interact with the programs. These kiosks are not designed to take away from the animals, but rather, they are designed educate and create a personal relationship between the viewer and the animal. The glass and fence will be torn down with implementation of these interactive devices.
LEARN MEET ME HABITAT AUDIO VIDEO NEWS MAP
Of the options that the guests are given, Learn is the first and seemingly most important. Going back to the mission statement of the zoo, education is a primary goal. With this aspect of the interface, guest will be able to scroll through options of the animal and focus on parts that they are more interested, i.e. anatomy, relatives, and general information and fun facts.
This section of the interface updates the guest with current events and happenings with the animal and zoo. This section will give the background information about the animal, as to how they arrived, new young, and general information if the exhibit is being closed.
This section is give the natural habitat information. In this section guests can find maps, migration patterns, and learn about the landscape that each of these animals come from.
While in the habitat section, there are options to move to the next animal or habitat, to cut down on clicking time. One aspect about this interface is that a large amount of data needs to be projected in the shortest amount of time.
This section gives the guest two options for viewing: Live video feed from cameras in the exhibit, or previously filmed movies of the animals in their natural habitat.
These videos are of animals in their natural environment and will be Animal Planet at your finger tips. The videos will be short clips about 30 seconds long that detail certain aspects of the animal that are important to cover and learn about.
This section is the most interactive of the interface. In thsi section, guests are able to control video cameras that are placed around the exhibit in specific areas to ensure quality animal viewing. A lot of times when going to the zoo, the animals tend to hide or just be out of site. With this section, guests can zoo in on an animal and see them when they are often hidden.
Animals make a lof of different sounds and cries that you are not always able to hear when visiting. On a rare occassion you are lucky to hear the alligators grunt, or the hyenas laugh, but this section will ensure you don’t leave the zoo without hearing what you want to. The audio will play quick 10-15 second sound bytes and will cover the sounds that you may or not be lucky enough to experience from the animals themselves.
This is the fun and important section of the interface. In this section, the animals will be introduced to the guest and ask to be their friend. If you find an animal that you like, you can sign up to be on their mailing list and receive email updates about them at home. By doing this, a personal relationship will hopefully be made between the guest and animal, which will result in a repeat visit to the zoo, and possibly a new friend to sponsor.
With the zoo being a maze and over 80-acres, there is a lot of room to get lost. With this section, you can see where you are in the zoo, how to get to the next exhibit you want, where other kiosks are like this one, and guest services. A fun feature of the map is that you can learn about different relatives of the animal you are currently viewing and where they are in the zoo.
Integration
With the placement of kiosk throughout the zoo, new and existing structures will be used. There is a lot of opportunity to use materials located at the exhibits, as well as, to add on previous structures.
LEARN MEET ME HABITAT AUDIO VIDEO NEWS MAP
LEARN MEET ME HABITAT AUDIO VIDEO NEWS MAP
LEARN MEET ME HABITAT AUDIO VIDEO NEWS MAP
LEARN MEET ME HABITAT AUDIO VIDEO NEWS MAP
New structure that works with current exhibit.
Current
Proposed
LEARN MEET ME HABITAT AUDIO VIDEO NEWS MAP
LEARN MEET ME HABITAT AUDIO VIDEO NEWS MAP
LEARN MEET ME HABITAT AUDIO VIDEO NEWS MAP
Proposed
Current
LEARN MEET ME HABITAT AUDIO VIDEO NEWS MAP
LEARN MEET ME HABITAT AUDIO VIDEO NEWS MAP
Inside the lion exhibit house
With such a large number of visitors per year, the Denver Zoo must start to take the necessary steps to maintain these numbers and possibly increase the current figures. With more revenue coming in, the more money the zoo has to propery care for the animals and educate its guests. The zoo kiosk is just one step to ensure the happiness of its guest and visitors but other steps must be taken as well. The largest complaint about zoos is the idea that the animals are caged and put on display. That will always be a constraint for zoos, however, with the kiosk, we will hopefully start to break down that barrier and allow the guest to come face to face with the animals. Welcome to the New Denver Zoo.