SOUND PATH

Portfolio of Yudan Chen

Digital exhibits in the Natural History Museum The course deals with spatial, vivid, tangible and social communication formats in natural history museums using digital media. The design task is the communication of a scientific fact using authentic objects Exhibition design with Senckenberg Museum

Primary Research

We analyze parts of the existing permanent exhibition „History of the Earth“ and „Fossils of the pit Messel“ under the aspect of the interaction design. In the exhibitions under consideration, many of the revolutionary design tools that Wilhelm Schäfer brought into the museum at the end of the 1960s are still clearly recogni- zable. We analyze what we can learn from the utopia of the future for the future and how this content could be presented in a future permanent exhibition

The pit Messel in Messel is a disused oil shale open pit. Because of the excellent quality of the recovered there fossils from the Eocene in 1995 she was appointed a UNESCO World Heritage Site. So far, re- presentatives of all vertebrate groups as well as insects and plants have been found there. The best-known representa- tives of the Messel fauna are probably the two early horse species Propalaeother- ium and Eurohippus, of which more than 70 individuals have been excavated so far. Other important finds are the crane bird Messelornis cristata and Darwinius ma- sillae („Ida“), an early primate

18 User Behavior &Measure

Visitor Flow is an immediate method to use the data collected by observing to research the obtention si- tuation. With the statistical data we have found the hot spots in the showroom, which consists of five different locations, namely Volkan model, Revolu- tionary graphics, Earth history, insect and jungle, and the pit Messel. Visitor Flow

Due to the statistical data, most of the guests are children(50%). Most of the guests were visiting in the group(70%), especially in the group that escor- ted by the museum guide.

50% 30%

visitors are adult visitors are individual

50% 70%

visitors are childeren visitor are in group

The information consists of three parts, text sounds and pictures. Compared to the other method, texts are ideal for visitors to have deeper information.

With sounds and speech, visitors can more easily immerse themselves in the atmosphere. Visitors can get more visual information during the enjoyment of real exhibits.

Visual information is definitely important too. With images and videos the environment is built up for imagination

Idee &Design

As Kant said, children are little people. Although the cognition of children is not yet as complete as adult, they have strong ability to recognize the new world. They have not yet as good capable of concentration as the adults, so we should distribute the same content in different contexts. Kinderwelt

Based on previous research, we have focused on sound interaction. In this way, we should know the address of the visitors and the relationships between visitors and exhibits, and then with the different definitions informations can be offered.

We have defined 3 zones for the sound. In the center is the exhibit, then zone one is with detailed information. Next there is zone two with the special points of the exhibit (barking of the dog). The third zone is after that with the sound of the living environment (the sea or the forest) Inforzonen

In the second aspect, we thought of the movement of the visitor. If you return the third zone in 1 minute after leaving the zone, the speaking will pause and then continue. If the leave time is more than 1 minute, the speaking will be repeated.

If the zone intersects with each other, you can hear both sounds in both directions.