Museum Virus

How to bridge the gap between traditional education and the new learning practice proposed by new media and games? The aim of this project was to design a playful and engaging learning experience for children. The result has been developed and fully implemented for Kunsthal, the art gallery in Rotterdam. A framework of playful and engaging learning experience was built both as an analytical tool and as a design tool. Museumvirus, the final concept, is an educational game for children (10-14 years old). Children identify themselves with 4 different virus profiles based on 4 learning types and try to hack the system of the exhibition to discover secret information. The game is structured in three phases: a preparation phase, happening at school, in which children, through an online game, create groups based on the virus profiles. An “hacking session” in the museum, where each virus group needs to decode with coloured lenses 10 questions and look for the answers in the exhibition. The answer will form a secret code to access the third and last part, which takes place back at school. Children have to complete an interactive story, using all the information they gathered in the exhibition.
The project won the Core77 Design Award 2012.

Clementin Gentile
E. O. Vieira, D. Saakes, W. Aprile
master thesis, October 2011