Case Studies

The solution we developed has a unique modular architecture, which allows a single, fluid, and quite beautiful interface to integrate and link together content from different sources.

In terms of the user experience, we agreed that the interactive design would not just be like using a website. All of the different types of content would be fully integrated in a fluid interface, that always presented a clear forward journey. We also agreed on something quite radical: that rather than refreshing whole screens at a time in order to provide information, we would present small slithers of information in a series of panels that would build left to right across the screen, and at any point, the panels could be rewound, like a scroll. We conducted early user testing on this whilst at the conceptual stage, and determined that users found this an intuitive and easy interface to understand and use.

Once we had established the concept of a fluid interface we looked at the movement and animation of the key panels. A lot of time was spent refining this movement to a point that made it elegant and understandable, yet didn't infringe on the user's goal in any way. Every click would be a 'positive choice for more content' with no start or end point. One of the main challenges in terms of the interface design was to present the user with a clear and simple set of options; any unnecessary buttons, labels and scrolling were stripped out to leave space for the content and the artworks.

Technically, the front-end system comprises separate presentation and 'business logic' layers, communicating through a specially defined XML schema, called MGML. This clean separation greatly assists the modular development of content; the presentation layer knows nothing about how the MGML is being generated, and in fact different parts of the content come from completely different mechanisms, some developed by Cogapp, others by MoMA's own developers, working separately and in parallel.

To achieve the dynamic interface envisaged by the creative team, the presentation layer was constructed from a combination of Cocoa and Flash. An overall framework defines the common structure and code library, managing tasks like navigation history; while each panel type is defined by a separate Flash project, again facilitating modular development. Cocoa is used to achieve smooth visual effects beyond Flash's capabilities, and to interface to custom hardware.

A synchronisation system manages the content and data being produced by diverse back-end systems, ensuring each kiosk is kept up-to-date; and also allows data to flow back from the kiosks onto MoMA's web site. Currently this is used to send e-cards through the kiosks, but in future plans include bookmarking data on the kiosk to later revisit on the web site; and marking material in advance on the web site to later retrieve from the kiosk on a visit to the museum.

A final level of flexibility is provided by the presentation layer in adapting to different resolution screens, input devices, and user requirements. For accessibility, visitors can change presentation styles, for example to view larger type in a choice of several high-contrast colour schemes; and an alternative navigation mechanism allows special input devices to be used by visitors with poor motor control.

The Results