Digital Experience

The digital experience component of this exhibition takes place in a room within the physical exhibition. In the room, there are three chairs with virtual reality headsets on them. When a visitor enters the room, the Indiana Historical Society employee will explain to the visitor how to use the virtual reality headset. Once the visitor puts on the headset, they will be immersed in a virtual reality experience in the English Hotel and showcase images of self-portraits other visitors have created. The visitor will have the opportunity to walk through the English Hotel, learn about the significance of the hotel, and interact with the artwork created by other visitors.

 

Below you will find links to both low-fidelity and mid-fidelity prototypes. The low-fidelity prototype was created in Balsamiq. You will see here that there are not any interactive components to this prototype; it is a map of what the interaction will look like. In this prototype, there are not many photos, and there is limited text. There are just placeholders to where the images and text would be. This low-fidelity prototype is set up like a storyboard; below each screen, you will find text explaining the interaction. The user sees a message on the first screen that prompts them to start the experience. During this experience, the user can turn their head and use their eyes to make selections. As the user moves through the experience, they will see different artworks and have the opportunity to watch a video about women artists in the 1800s, 1900s, and today.

 

The mid-fidelity prototype is created in Figma. You will see that this experience is much more built out in terms of interaction. In this prototype, you will also see that I have incorporated the typographic and color palette that I came up with earlier in the semester. The experience is placed in the English Hotel. The English hotel is where the first exhibition was held for the Indianapolis Museum of Art, now known as Newfields. The significance of the English hotel in the Indianapolis Museum of Art goes back to its roots, May Wright Sewall. May Wright Sewall opened her home to discuss “the organization of a society for the study and promotion of art.” This ties in with another example of women in the history of art. As the user goes through the virtual reality exhibition, they have the opportunity to go room to room in the English hotel. During this interaction, the user can click throughout the exhibition and learn more about each room and its significance. In one of the rooms, the user will have the option to click on a video. This video will be a clip from the documentary Out of the Shadows: Portraits of Historic Women Artists. As the user continues to move through the virtual hotel, they will also see artworks created by other visitors. The majority of these artworks will be self-portraits because that is the theme of this virtual art gallery. The goal of this digital experience is to immerse the user in a historic space where they can learn about women in art history and also experience a virtual reality art gallery.