Project Summary

For this project, we partnered with The Discovery Museum in Acton to redesign an exhibit of theirs. We built an exhibit that helps kids learn about magnets through interactive play and discovery. The exhibit is a magnet game that utilizes colors to teach kids the basics of magnet polarity and how the magnets attract and repel each other. We learned to cater the elements to children with things like ergonomic design for accesability and Wow! factor so the product would align with the Discovery Museum's goals.

sadie

Falling Magnets

• Exhibit goal: teach kids about Lenz’s law
• Play type: Planned discovery
• Design: A circular base with a pole and a cylinder with tubes around it that have magnets on them which you can move up and down
• What works: interactive & repetitive
• What doesn't: Bland/not attractive and the learning goal was hard to understand for all ages not just kids. The action of moving the magnets up and down isn’t complex itself, but the learning goal and getting kids to understand it is very complex.

kaia

Learning Goal

To teach kids the basics of magnets (how they attract and repel)

Design Elements

• Wow! factor
• Hazard-free
• Approachable & Repeatable
• Interactive

Play Type

• Cooperative
• Competitive

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sadie

Precedents

Air Hockey

Pinball

Meta Quest 3 Controllers

Kaia

Initial Prototype

 Our first prototype was lower fidelity than the other ones we’ve made. The handles were made of cardboard, foam, and hot glue, which we later changed because they made marks on the acrylic. The outside edges were sealed with paper and tape which did the job but was not a clean design choice. The acrylic was held up with foam pads but they were seen from the outside and did not add to the visual design. The obstacles were different shapes cut from thin foam, which didn't make the magnets slow down at all.

Sadie

User testing at Discovery Museum

Method of testing

• Notes
• Pictures
• Timing

coffy

What we were testing

• Child and adult engagement
• Game design
• Type of play

• How much do kids engage with the exhibit?
• How do the kids use the handles and do they understand what to do with the exhibit?
• How long do kids stay?
• Do adults interact with it? How?
• What makes kids want to play with the exhibit?
• Do kids understand the magnet component?

Questions for testing

• Timing of test
• Before lunchtime
• Large school group at the start that all left at the same time

• High engagement from children and adults
• Couple groups stayed for 10+ minutes
• Hot glue on handles left a residue on the board
• Older kids figured it out and then tried looking below the table & playing from below

User testing at Discovery Museum

Outcomes

Limitations of testing

coffy

Iteration #1

Testing Prep

• Change handle design
• Higher fidelity frame to enclose the board
• Use stronger magnets
• Change obstacle shape and material

Kaia

Iterations after user testing #1:

User testing at NuVu

Method of testing

• Notes
• Interviews
• Videos
• Listening to conversation
• Pictures

Kaia

What we were testing

• Durability
• Game design
• Learning goal

Questions for testing

• How much do kids engage with the exhibit?
• How do the kids use the handles and do they understand what to do with the exhibit?
• How long do kids stay?
• Do adults interact with it? How?
• What makes kids want to play with the exhibit?
• Do kids understand the magnet component?

User testing at NuVu

• The height of the table was too tall for some kids
• 2/3 kids were too young to answer questions/give feedback
• only 3 kids were there to test

• Handles worked well
• 6 y.o. loved the game "This one's my favorite"
• NuVu students/older students were confused about the way the magnets were labeled
• noticed one handle had an unfair advantage
• Magnets stacked on top of each other and got stuck

Outcomes

Limitations of testing

Kaia

Storyboard

sadie

Final model

• Bumpers around magnets
• fixed polarity confusion
• Corner protectors to eliminate hazard
• Added a door to the board for easy

Sadie

What we changed:

Kaia

Kaia

Sadie

Coffy

Reflection

• User testing is very useful
• How kids interact with each other and play
• Refined our 3-D modeling skills using rhino
• How to make diagrams
• Project and time management
• client work

all

Things we took away from the studio: