VIVITA design sprint x Lennusadam: How to design a thrilling exhibition?
Did you know, that one of the grandest Northern-Europe maritime museums is located here, in Tallinn? At the Seaplane Harbour, located at the coast of Tallinn, you can find an actual submarine from the 1930s, different boats, sail-boats, an century old icebreaker called Suur Tõll, a copy of a seaplane Short 184, mines, canons and lots of other real-life exhibits.
Does that sound familiar? Maybe you have even been there?
Twenty of our very own Vivinauts are definitely familiar with the venue, since at the start of March the VIVITA design sprint took place at the Sea Harbour Museum in order to redesign the experience of the main exhibition to fit the eyes of the youth! The vivinauts got to discuss and dream about, what would be the most exciting exhibition experience like and how to actually create one themselves.
Prior to the design sprint, a brief pre-event took place at the VIVISTOP Telliskivi. Together with Annemai Mägi from the Estonian Design Centre, the Vivinauts got to discuss about the role of the design and its many forms. Also a quick client brief took place, when the curator of Seaplane Harbour’s public programs, Irma Mets, came to talk about the daily doings with kids at the museum venue.
All the Vivinauts also got their very own Explorer-Kit: a ticket to visit the Seaplane Harbour and a personal experience map. With the kit, they had an opportunity to visit the exhibition on their own or with their family and note down their own experience. So that at the start of the design sprint, the kids were already familiar with the venue and its charms and concerns.
Ready, steady, START!
The design sprint took place from 10th to 12th of March. The first steps of the Vivinauts were to get to know the stages of the Design Sprint and to set their own rules for the sprint, to make it run smoothly for everyone involved.
On the first day, during the stages of DISCOVER and FEEL, the Vivinauts got to write down and analyse their own experience from the exhibition. To compare notes, the Vivinauts filled in also a collective exhibition map with all their findings. A common ground was found and the groups were formed at the base of common interest. The following work continued already in thematic groups: two of the groups were aiming to create experience on an exhibit level, third group was focusing on the exhibition guest’s journey as a whole and the fourth group found that the sea rescue is an important theme that really needs more attention.
The next stages, FOCUS and IMAGINE, took place on the second day. The Vivinauts — already working as a design team — got more in depth into their theme. Together, all the joys and concerns were mapped out in a sea of post-its and a common concern was found, to take up in the next stage: IMAGINE.
The next step was to imagine the exhibition in a way that this priorly chosen concern was solved or it never happened. In this stage a countless number of ideas were created and the trick was to combine the best of them in a way, that just makes sense.
The goal of that third day was to make that chosen idea shine bright! For that, the vivinauts co created many prototypes in forms of physical 1:1 mock-ups, written scenarios for the games and adventure-trails, drawings and visual frames for the simulations and many-many props to help the idea present itself better.
When the protos were done, each group introduced their ideas to one another and after the feedback was given in the same manner.
FINIŠ!
The aim of the Design Sprint was to include the youth in the design process as an expert group and give them the ground to speak up in order to be considered in the making of environments that are created for them — and oh, they had ideas!
VIVITA team & volunteers: Teele Kumm, Vera Naydenova, Joonas Riisalu, Piret Tabor, Mari-Liis Peets, Sigrid Kägi, Mari-Liis Lind, Anette Heleri Lind, Kairi Loomet.
