Case Study Overview

The Georgia Aquarium has a robust app that is mainly geared towards families
with young children. My team’s challenge was to create a companion app that
served the needs of adult visitors.

The Challenge

The Georgia Aquarium is a non-profit organization that has a robust app which provides immersive and interactive experiences for children. The research shows that the young adult population is lacking the same enrichment and experience as its younger counterpart.

The Solution

Creating a secondary app to target young adults will enhance the user experiences during their visit. This app will guide the user through the facility, provide digestible information, and allow the user to participate in a friendly game of trivia to test their knowledge.

Persona 1

Chester, 29

Loving husband who is an avid gamer and plays monthly trivia with his wife and friends. Always looking to test himself and compete.

Pains:

• Confusing Layout
• Missing Key Information
• Having To Sign Up On Apps

Needs:

• Immersive Experiences

• Challenging Tasks

• Easy To Follow Layout 

Opportunities:

• AR/VR Features

• Competitive Edge

• Gamification

Persona 2

Emma, 25

Social butterfly who loves to hang out with friends and go to the best attractions. Anything that engages the whole crew is bound to impress and be a winner.

Pains:

• Long Lines
• Apps That You Only Use Once
• Too Much Information To Digest

Needs:

• Age Appropriate (Adult) Education

• Links To Social Media

• Challenging Tasks 

• Easy To Follow Route 

Opportunities:

• Engagement With Friends

• Notification Of Upcoming Events

• Information About Environmental Conservation

User Scenario

Chester and his wife enjoy attending trivia nights at their local spot, but they are looking for something new. After hearing about the Georgia Aquarium’s new app, he and his wife visit the local attraction and enjoy learning about the exhibits and participating in the trivia feature of the app.

C & C Analysis

Trivia C & C Analysis

Research Synthesis

Gender: Split

All but 1 went with others

  • Social outing

Enjoyed their visit, but thought it was crowded and for kids

  • Those who attended “Sips under the Sea” enjoyed their time

  • Adult focused event

Research Summary:

  • 50/50 on Male/Female Attendance

  • 20 out of 21 respondents enjoy and play trivia games to test their knowledge

  • Social Event (all but one user went with friends or significant other)

  • All users enjoyed their visit, but did not like how crowded it felt

  • Users expressed that it was focused on kids and lacked adult focused activities

User Insights

Experience:

All but 1 went with others

  • Enjoyed the aquarium

  •  They know what to expect

  • There is a lot of information

  • “Needs clear directions so you don’t miss anything”

  • “I prefer bulleted information when there is a lot. It’s hard to read”

  • Enjoys interactive experiences

  • Games that make me think

  • “Interactive map would be great”

  • Learning about the venues around where you live is nice

Wire Flow

Journey Map

Scenario:

Chester and his wife love trivia nights but always attend the same ones. Chester heard about the new Sips Under The Sea app that includes trivia and now he wants to take his wife to the aquarium and play together.

1. Chester checks online for Trivia nights coming up.

2. He sees the Georgia Aquarium has an interactive app where you can play trivia at their Sips Under the Sea event.

3. The couple is overwhelmed and wonder how they will be able to navigate through the Aquarium.
4. Using the interactive map on the Georgia Aquarium app, Chester goes to the first exhibit with ease.

5. He then can select the exhibit he is at for more information

6. As Chester moves to the next exhibit, he receives the notification to answer a trivia question about the exhibit he just visited!

7. As he moves through the exhibits, he and his wife get lost.
8. Chester sees the AR Guide and decides to use it.

Wireframes

Task Scenario

You are attending an evening event at the GA Aquarium and are excited to learn and test your knowledge. While attending the event you hear about this exciting app the Aquarium has to offer and you download it.

  • Now that you have downloaded the app, use the app to find information on the“Beyond the Reef” Exhibit

  • Continue along the path and test your knowledge at the “Georgia Explorer”

  • Time to check out your new badge. What steps would you take to do that?

  • Oh no! You have gotten all turned around and need to find your way. What can you use to help find your way?

Prototype Testing

Round 1 (Brandy)

Onboarding

  • Hard to read

  • Didn’t know how to close the popup

Overall

  • Some glitches

  • Easy experience with it

  • Would like the ability to tap anywhere to close open tab

Round 2 (Brent)

  • Skipped the tutorial

  • Compass is confusing after looking at tutorial

  • Compass made more sense

  • Tutorial is too wordy

  • “When there is too many words in a tutorial I close out”

Prototype Testing

Round 3 (Mike)

Leaderboard

  • Why are there badges and points

  • How do you know how many points you have?

  • Do badges represent points?

  • Preferred having score on top

Round 4 (Richard)

Leaderboard

  • Prefers leaderboard with his name on top.

  • Think that the info page could have different categories.

Next Steps

  • Continue prototype testing

  • Use A/B testing to confirm text/color choices

  • Send to developers and test