Global Service Jam London 2023
A 48h challenge @Natural History Museum
BUILD:RE:BUILD
We were very lucky to have the Natural History Museum as scenario for the jam: inspiring and challenging for its busy and bubbling atmosphere.
As a group, we had an initial brainstorm about the central theme (build:re:build) and its relation with the space we were in (museum), which led us into two topics/groups: Team Spatial and Team Food.
In the discussion and with one of the prompts being "decolonising design", I mentioned how the cafeteria was expensive and not very inclusive, and shared my experience being a kid whose parents could not afford buying food out when going to museuns - and how that felt.
Research
How might we improve visitors’ eating experience?
As part of Team Food, we spent some time in the museum observing and interviewing visitors to understand their eating experience in that space and gathered insights for our project.
We found many people and families snacking around the corridors, and talking to them we discovered a lack of awareness - including from us - about the Picnic Area inside the museum, where people can eat their packed food.
A young couple shared that they were in the main cafeteria drinking a juice brought from home when approached by a staff and told that the space was for customers only. She said they didn't see the signage and, even though the staff was friendly, she felt very embarrassed. We were moved by how she was nervously laughing and covering her face with her hand while telling us the story.
The signage mentioned by the staff is an A4 paper, quite shy for the size of the space and hard to spot when the place is busy.
So, where is the Picnic Area?
The picnic area is downstairs at Level -1, mentioned only on the signage in the museum's wing where it is located.
The place is quite dark compared with the bright and paid options upstairs on the ground floor. The cold and metallic material used in the sitting area also caught our attention.
Prototyping, iterating, refining
We decided to focus on improving the signage and better communicate the location of the Picnic Area.
We then had some rounds of prototyting signage options, iterating it with visitors and asking for further insights on why, where it should belocated, how they felt about it and the message, and ways to improve it.
Learning and thoughts
The dinosaur option was the one elected by adults and kids, mentioned as funnier and well-contextualised.
People asked for a visual clue for food and the picnic basket was chosen as the most representative.
Visitors liked the idea of using the dino’s footprint around the museum to help guidimg towards the right location.
They also mentioned the signage should also be placed outside the cafeteria, alerting and directing people who brought food from home before getting there.