1. Description of the class topic

The class was an interdisciplinary look at exhibition-making from different perspectives. We examined an upcoming exhibition in the newly built ›Humboldt Forum‹ in Berlin, which will house many exhibits from Berlin’s ethnological museum. The museum takes into consideration various aspects, ranging from identity to colonialism and racism. We gathered theoretical insights by reading and discussing texts about (post-)colonialism, racism and culture and conducted practical research with cultural probes. The outcome is a proposal for an interactive exhibit for children visiting the museum, who are invited to examine the discussed concepts in a playful and explorative manner.

2. Process

2.1 First ideas

Facing the course’s context and the upcoming exhibition at the ›Humboldt Forum‹ in Berlin, our initial thoughts revolved around how to make phenomenons such as racism, colonialism or culture accessible for children – especially while keeping in mind that the topics mentioned above make up for a lot of controversy, debate and protest in nowadays’ general public. While we deemed it impossible to depoliticise the subject or avoid any controversies, we still wanted to find ways for children to make up their mind about what the concept of identity means to them, and how it might be connected to other societal issues.

Hence, before thinking about a specific installation suitable for the exhibition, we wanted to gather insights about how children approach different topics around the broad theme “identity”, and whether they draw connections to their everyday lives.

Cultural Probes

To do so, we used a design research method called cultural probes. It helps designers get practical and emotional insights into peoples lives, thoughts and opinions. The questions are not phrased to get analysable and comparable answers, but rather to understand people’s approaches and feelings. Participants can make up their minds about how to solve a task or answer a question, instead of ticking answers of yes-no questions.

Since we were not familiar with the children’s levels of experience and knowledge regarding the discussed topics, we broadened our fields of research. Instead of focusing on abstract phenomenons such as identity, racism or colonialism, we asked the children about related topics: Traveling and family vacation, cultures and food.

We created three tasks for the children. One was a map of Europe, on which they should mark all the countries that they know of, and all the countries they have already been to. The second task was a set of cards which depicted different types of food. The children were supposed to mark all dishes they knew of and all dishes they have already eaten. We presented food of different origins, such as Falafel, Fish & Chips, Spring Rolls, Pizza and so on. The third task was to pick and cut out different parts of a magazine stack and to compose and glue them on a separate sheet of paper. We also picked various magazines coming from different countries, focusing on different topics, and using different languages or glyph systems.

Results

The results were quite mixed and showed a broad and varying range of knowledge regarding the discussed topics. Altogether, we were surprised about the children’s wide-ranging knowledge regarding different European countries and types of food from all over the world. Though we also noticed that the tasks were mostly regarded as independent exercises without drawing the connection to identity or culture.

First ideation phase

The probes showed us how important it was for the children’s attention to implement a kind of play or quiz factor in the exhibit. Therefore, we did not want to focus on plain information or explanations in the exhibition. Instead, we wanted them to playfully realise or discover a link that they had not seen before.

The probes also showed us that it was necessary to prompt the children a little more. Maps, cross-cultural food or multilingual magazines alone did not make the children think about topics like identity, culture and belonging. However, we still noticed a strong excitement when engaging with topics they had already seen or heard of before. Therefore, we decided to focus on the connection between a given, non-changeable identity, and a self-chosen identity.

Our goal was to make children think about the distinction between parts of oneself that one did not decide upon (such as name, age, physical traits, country one was born in, …) and parts that are (seemingly) personal choices (character traits, dreams, wishes, preferences, …). Also, we wanted to let them take a closer look at a possible connection between the two identities. Are people fully deciding themselves what they like or wish for, or is it also connected to how they grew up or the environment they are used to?

2.2 Testpiloten

During a test session at a primary school we tested two different game ideas which addressed two similar yet also very different approaches to the class topic of identity – the self-chosen and given parts.

›The Pin Game‹ The first game focused on what constitutes an identity and how each and every identity resembles and differs from one another. Our aim was to create a game that visualises this idea. We prepared a board and created six spectrums with each two labeled ends (e.g. sun/rain, dog/cat, winter/summer) which we glued onto the board. Between the ends of each spectrum we pinnend 5 needles. Instead of just using words to describe the ends of the spectrum we also used emojis as a fun and easy way of recognizing the categories as well as invoking a feeling that those categories should not be taken too seriously. Because the game is meant for children it should be fun to play and not look too scientific or boring. The spectrums were purposefully created in a way that did not imply one end to be better than the other. They also just show a miniature part of ones self-chosen identity.

During the test session we let the children draw themselves and pin their picture on the empty left side of the board. This pin was the starting point for a wool thread which each child could then connect to the other pins on the board thereby creating a visual representation of their likes - a small part of their identity. After multiple test runs a web of threads emerged which showcased how similar, different and unique each one of the threads (identities) was in relation to the others.

›The Passport Game‹ The second game was meant to evoke awareness about the consequences of ones nationality - a given part of your identity.

We prepared three different passports, one for each child in the test group. Seven different boxes symbolised seven fictional countries each containing different amounts of play money. The goal of the game is to „travel“ to one final country, Progressa. Each country has different entry requirements (cost of „visa“, forbidden to certain passports, free entry for certain passports). The children have to travel to different boxes to collect the money that is inside in order to gain enough money to pay the visa fee for the final country. The game is designed in a way that only one passport can win the game.

Feedback The test session consisted of four game rounds in which both games were played. We started with ›The Pin Game‹ as a warm-up and continued with ›The Passport Game‹. At the end of each session we took some time to talk with the children and discuss the experience with them.

During ›The Pin Game‹ we tried to let the children be as free as possible and only explained the most necessairey parts. Right in the beginning, where the children had to draw themselves, you could already see different interests. Some of them really enjoyed drawing and expressing their outer appearance, others quickly finished this task and wanted to move on to the next step. In general the game created a very collective atmosphere particularly because each child was talking about him/herself and started to explain the chosen answers. For instance one of them was stating that she has a cat at home which makes her feel more connected to cats instead of dogs. After saying so the children naturally started asking questions about her cat. Overall the children were very curious about the answers of each child and started to discuss the similarities and differences that started to showup after more and more children had given their answers. Interesting to see was that one child, who was the only one who chose a completely different answer than the children before him, got very doubtful about his opinion as soon as the children were noticing so. Only after assuring him that his answer is totally fine he stuck to his opinion. Altogether this games was a very good way for us to get to know the children a little and make them feel comfortable in the situation. It served as a good gateway to the second game.

Most of the children were already curious about ›The Passport Game‹, because they could see the boxes of the game laying in the back, which seemed to have an inviting and thrilling appearance. This made the rule-explanation easier for us since they were listing closely. During the gameplay the atmosphere was a lot more competitive and they were emotionally involved. It was interesting to see how the children were reacting to the blockades which we integrated into the game. Especially because we knew who would win the game beforehand. After finishing the game we asked them if it was fun to play and surprisingly most of the children who didn’t win gave a very positive feedback. Even after explaining that there was only one passport who could possibly win the game, they claimed not to feel betrayed or treated unfairly. Yet it seemed like they were thinking about it afterwards. Again we learned a lot about the children because they were talking about their holidays and other things they connected with travelling or passports.

At the end of the test session all the children and all the other groups came together for an overall feedback round. There it seemed like many children kept ours in mind and gave a positive feedback. (Though we might have to admit that this could also have to with the sweets they won at the end of ›The Passport Game‹.) Personally it was a good experience for our group and it helped us get to know our traget group for the main project.

3. Final project

3.1 Development and process

After finishing the test session our group came together to develop our ideas into one final project. At this point we made some determations about what should be the main focus of our work and which values should be carried by it. Therefore we mainly concentrated on these facts:

A) Though the class topic was not only about identity but further dealt with e.g. colonialism, racism and other serious topics we decided to concentrate on what creates a single identity. More specifically we kept our focus on how identities are created out of chosen and given parts (see also 2.1) as we in some point already did in ›The Passport Game‹. Whereby we thought of given parts as facts that a person has been born into (name, age, place of birth, …) and chosen parts as facts that a person can make decisions over during a life time. Since our target group is a very young one we mainly used dreams/goals to portrait these chosen parts.

B) Another thing we wanted to develop further was the thought of not only showing how people defer from one another, but more importantly how we are similar no matter where we come from or how different we might seem in the first place. Following ›The Pin Game‹ we ideally wanted to create the same collective atmosphere and an interconnective exchange about one another. We thought about this as a chance of discovering similarities as well as differences in a playful environment and as a positive outcome for young minds (and of course also for more experienced ones).

C) Since diversity is a very important fundament to create the outcome we were thinking of, we decided to move on from analogue to digital so we could make use of the lager range and possibilities. This not only gives us the chance to collect a higher and more divers amount of data but also helped us to move on in terms of the medium.

D) Further we wanted to make sure that the children won’t get tangled in stereotypes and tried to create an open-minded approach on discovering the important topics of the class.

3.2 Visualisation

For the visual concept we made use of the Corporate Identity of the ›Humbold Forum‹ in Berlin for which the exhibition module was created. The main colors are a dark blue (#00425e) and a vivid green tone (#00ffc8). In addition we used a red (#fa0050) and yellow tone (#ffe66e) as side colors.

The implemented typography is called “Tstar Pro” which was designed by Michael Mischler in 2013. It is a sans-serif font that is slender in its proportions and was mostly used in uppercase.

The overall appearance of our project is held flat and mostly minimalistic. In addition to that the colors itself carry an inviting and vivid ambiance.

Moodboards

Moodboards for the interface and the overall interior design:

3.3 Tapi

Our final project, ›Tapi‹, is an interactive exhibition module which enables children to engage with their own and other identities in an interconnected digital world. The exhibit is designed in a way that catches the eye of the visitor and is also accessible for children of different height and age groups.

In a first step the children are invited to create an identity card. They are let through the process on a touchscreen by a friendly helper called Tapi who asks them questions about themselves. Some of these questions pertain to the given part of ones identity (name, age, language, nationality) while others pick up some of the chosen parts (favourite animal, dream place to live,...). The children are then prompted to create a character which acts as their avatar in the digital world later on. After creating that character a card is printed which displays the child's character, their name and age on the front. A QR code on the back of the card ensures that the previously retrieved information will be recognized in the next step. This card also serves as a lasting physical reminder of what was hopefully a delightful museum visit.

Passwort: Tapi

In the second step the children then place this card on a digital table. Designed to look like a small digital world in the clouds it attracts the child's attention through motion. When they put their card on the table the clouds shift and change colour and the information they gave about their identity will now be displayed in front of them. Other characters which were created by children who visited the exhibition before are floating in the background of the table arousing the child`s curiosity. The child can either select one of the floating characters or is connected with one after a certain time of inactivity. The new character then floats right next to the child's and the information of both children will be displayed emphasising similaritities and differences. In this way a child can explore and connect to numerous children and their identities.

This project tries to initiate reflecting on one's identity, what is given to us and what we can choose about ourselves. We are also reminded of the similarities we share, of staying curious and open-minded when meeting other people and living in an interconnected world.

4. Conclusion

Before any further development a user test of the new prototype would be necessary. By doing that we could learn how the children react to the idea, the identity-questions and the visualisation. After incorporating the feedback a major step would then be to add motion design to the digital table. Ideally this would be tested in a second user test. An additional extension to the project could be a website that lets you interact with your character and the other characters from home.

During the course of the class it became clearer and clearer that every feedback was crucial to the adaptation and improvement of the idea. This together with gathering valuable theoretic background and the fruitful discussions in class were the necessary basis for creating the final project.