Overview
This client-based project with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History centers on Bug Hall and explores the ecological importance of arthropods in the Anthropocene. Titled Arthropod Odyssey, the project is a multi-sensory interactive experience designed to shift how visitors perceive these often misunderstood creatures. Through immersive storytelling, augmented reality navigation, tactile simulations of insect communication, and interactive projections, families are invited to explore the hidden roles arthropods play in ecosystems. By connecting past, present, and future, the experience encourages curiosity, deeper understanding of the natural world, and greater appreciation for the species that sustain it.
Role
Creative Direction Experience Design UX Research
Year
2024/ 2 month
Client
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Deliverable
Immersive Storytelling AR Wayfinding Tactile Exhibition Tangible Souvenir
COLLABORATORS
1 UX DESIGNER 1 UX RESEARCHER
The Arthropod Odyssey has been awarded the 2025 Conceptual Design Silver Muse Design Award as well as the 2025 Interaction Design Runner-up Core77 Award.
Our research process involved studying existing museum exhibit strategies, analyzing visitor engagement patterns, and exploring innovative interaction models that enhance learning experiences. In our exploratory research we conducted 6 interview sessions with museum goers and staff, 4 observational sessions at the museum, as well as landscape research into existing precedents.
Through synthesizing insights from our primary and secondary research findings, we identified the following research question and design principles to inform our design direction.
To ensure consistency with the museum’s identity, we studied the museum’s current design system and created an extended system tailored for the Arthropod Odyssey experience.
Many visitors are unaware of the Bug Hall or struggle to locate it, often missing its connection to the museum’s broader narrative. Our app addresses this through a 3D museum map and AR navigation system that functions as both a wayfinding tool and educational guide, enhancing accessibility while helping visitors understand how arthropods shape and sustain ecosystems across time.
Visitors scan QR code for a tour selection with 3D Museum Map and AR Navigation.
Curated tours reveal the Bug Hall’s connection to the museum’s broader narrative.
In this hall, interactive AR storytelling showcases arthropods’ evolution, highlighting their role in shaping ecosystems and life across time.
Interactive, game-like experiences that help visitors learn about arthropod anatomy and behaviors by drawing comparisons with gem characteristics.
Design Solution
Many visitors are unaware of how insects communicate, perceive their environment, or the critical ecological roles they play. In the Bug Hall, our design uses multi-sensory and interactions to bridge this gap, replicating insect communication through tactile vibrations, simulating their vision with visual projections, and illustrating their ecological impact through responsive visualizations.
Collect Bugs
A responsive projection that senses visitor proximity to insects and provides navigational guidance.
Adobe Illustrator
lasercut
Figma
SignalScape
An Interactive experience that simulates the vibrational communication of insects, using tactile haptic feedback and responsive projections.
Arduino
Figma
VisionScape
An Interactive projection that reveals how arthropods perceive their environment through ultraviolet sensitivity and compound vision.
Arduino
TouchDesigner
Figma
TerraScape
An immersive projection mapping experience using real-time data to illustrate arthropods’ roles in pollination, predator–prey dynamics, and ecosystem stability.
Adobe Premiere
Figma
Collect Souvenir Artifact
Receive a unique souvenir tied to the selected tour, capturing the memory of this special experience.
Adobe illustrator
lasercut
The Arthropod Odyssey developed through an iterative design process focused on how visitors move through and interpret museum spaces. Through observation, prototyping, and reflection, we explored ways to shift the experience of encountering arthropods from passive viewing to active engagement. Rather than simply presenting information, the project creates moments where visitors participate in discovery through AR navigation, tactile sensory interactions, and narrative-driven digital elements. Throughout the process, we continuously reflected on how technology could support the museum’s educational goals without overwhelming the content. Each interaction was refined to encourage curiosity, conversation, and exploration, helping visitors recognize the often overlooked ecological importance of arthropods. The result is an experience that fosters deeper connections with the natural world while demonstrating how thoughtfully integrated technology can reshape museum engagement.
