2025 | Sponsored Project
Unifying the gallery experience at the Georgia Aquarium
Role: UI/UX Designer & Visual Design Lead
Timeline: August - December 2025
Stakeholder: Georgia Aquarium
Team: Josalyn Chow, Tanya Punater, Natasha Valluri
How might we create a cohesive interactive experience that considers
500+ Species, 9 Galleries, 2,000,000+ Visitors
Background:
The Georgia Aquarium is a non-profit in Atlanta that houses over 500 aquatic and terrestrial species across nine galleries and receives 2M+ visitors per year.
Their mission centers on education, conservation, and ethical animal care through immersive experiences like the Touch Pool, Dolphin Show, and digital exhibits.
Project Goal:
Implement a digital, gamified experience that remains accessible, inclusive, and suitable for all guests through potential scavenger hunts, badge earning, and species discovery
The aim is to provide a cohesive, personalized experience that helps first-time visitors navigate the aquarium’s scale and variety without feeling overwhelmed.
Education
Gamification
Conservation
Accessibility
Finspire Explorer Webapp
The Solution: A gamified web app that turns species discovery into an adventure through a customizable scavenger search
Onboarding & Product TourAquarium Map & Game Levels
The design features a simplified dial map for easy navigation of the 2 building levels. Interactive elements like a spin-to-select feature, gallery cards for quick overviews, and a water-fill completion effect enhance clarity, engagement, and a sense of progress.
and multiple difficulty levels to support visitors with different levels of aquatic knowledge.
Aquarium Map & Scavenger LevelsAquarium Map & Game Levels
The design features a simplified dial map for easy navigation of the 2 building levels. Interactive elements like a spin-to-select feature, gallery cards for quick overviews, and a water-fill completion effect enhance clarity, engagement, and a sense of progress.
and multiple difficulty levels to support visitors with different levels of aquatic knowledge.
Scavenger Search & Submit
The experience guides users through unlocking clues that progress from broad to specific facts, with options to learn more through text and visuals. Flexible answer submission via text or photo is supported, along with restart, retry, give-up options, and a mystery card that recaps key facts.
App Menu & Digital Card Reward
The digital trading card presents animal facts, conservation efforts, and additional details, while a wallet allows users to revisit their collected cards across galleries and visits. A consistent hamburger menu supports easy navigation, and social features like inviting friends encourage shared exploration.
Understanding Our Stakeholders & Users
What are the industry standards?
Field Observations & Comp Analysis: Visited the Georgia Aquarium and Zoo Atlanta to observe how their signage, messaging, and interactive prototypes influence the visitor experience. Compared other cultural institutions (MET Museum, Monterey Bay Aquarium, etc.) to understand their approaches to gamification
How do users engage & interact?
Contextual Inquiry | 12 Participants: To understand how visitors behave in the aquarium, we observed their interactions with the aquarium galleries, digital components, & signage. Gained reasoning and insight into their actions by asking follow-up questions.
What do users enjoy or dislike?
Intercept Interview | 20 Participants: Collected in-the-moment insights from guests about their reflections and takeaways from their ongoing experience. Had the ability to probe about one select topic and go in depth with the user. Conversed with elderly visitors, employees, and family groups, all of whom we not have had access to otherwise.
Who exactly are the 2M+ users?
Visitor Survey | 111+ Responses: Collected survey data to identify visitor demographics, visiting frequency, preparedness, and general experiences with the animal galleries. We conducted 3 separate tabling sessions at the aquarium to cultivate a large, diverse dataset that is more representative of the visitors.
How do users feel, think, & recall?
SemiStructured Interviews | 12 Participants: Gathered detailed, in-depth recollections from the CI participants after their visit. Asked open-ended questions to get rich stories and elaboration into the motivations behind their choices and decision-making during their visit.
So much data! Let’s Affinity Map to find the patterns
01
User struggles with finding meaning out of their aquarium experience.
“[I want to know]…there are things I can be doing to improve the well being of the ones out there”
03
User does not enjoy viewing digital screens at galleries.
“I was not a fan of having screens in any of the places… especially ones that that were competing with the viewing window for visual attention”
05
User is eager to collect and share knowledge and memories from the aquarium.
“These projections are instagram story-worthy”
“I want to purchase the medallion of the dolphin now”
02
User is confused about galleries and what species they contain.
“There were a lot of options, just with the names, I couldn’t tell what is in each of them...”
04
Users were heavily drawn to galleries with unique, immersive experiences.
“I feel like I just stare at it all day… It's like the classic view you associate with an aquarium as well, with all the children at the glass windows. So I really like that.”
Connecting user needs to potential design solutions
What are the user’s specific needs?
01: The user needs to be able to easily identify contents and themes of every gallery in the aquarium.
02: The user needs to have an interaction with the fish to facilitate a better connection.
How can I use design to meet them?
DI-01: The design must include prominent, and easy to understand indicators about the galleries’ contents (such as signage, etc).
DI-02: The design must incorporate opportunities for interactions at the aquarium, be it tactile, visual or auditory.
03: The user needs the aquarium to match the larger-than-life, grand expectations visitors have
04: The user needs to be educated about the conservation efforts being carried out by the aquarium team
DI-03: The design must use interactive elements that allow visitors to feel surrounded by the ocean environment
DI-04: The design must provide persistent displays of educational gallery information that tie into real-life conservation activities.
05: The user needs to experience positive, hopeful environments during their visit.
DI-05: The design must allow users to experience galleries as narrative journeys with tangible examples of conservation
06: The user needs to have a way to commemorate / share their visit
07: The user needs to have flexibility in the planning of their aquarium visit.
DI-06: The design must allow users to collect and share their experiences, digitally/physically, about interactions and memories
DI-07: The design must be personalizable/customizable to user input, providing multiple options for navigation.
After brainstorming, we made 4 concepts sketches
AR Animal Rescue Roleplay
Concept Description
AR experience for participants to assume the role of a marine biologist and go on conservation missions to “save” different species. When they complete the challenge, they win a prize!
Design Considerations
Clues, puzzles, and hints foster an interactive educational experience & promotes conservation (DI-04). Digital animal cards serve as shareable memorabilia (DI-06).
Accessibility Concerns
May hinder the experience for visitors who don’t want to use devices when viewing the galleries. Need to include audio/haptic feedback to make scavenger hunt accessible for low-vision users.
Animal Life Journey Experience
Concept Description
A narrative journey that uses projectors, projection mapping, and signage to highlight the life story of specific species. Users can locate the species and capture memories in real time!
Design Considerations
Can bring attention to overlooked species at the aquarium (DI 03). The sketch follows a user as they track the life journey of a turtle. This narrative storytelling may build empathy (DI 05).
Accessibility Concerns
Audio feedback will be lucrative for visitors who want to take a self-guided experience. A concern was the visibility of the wall QR code, due to the lighting and “dark spots”
K-6 Gamified Marine Education
Concept Description
An interactive educational app that helps K–6 children explore ocean life through a 3D aquarium map, games, and animal facts. It extends learning with videos and lesson plans.
Design Considerations
The 3D map improves visitor navigation by allowing users to visualize the galleries (DI 01).In order to complete the games, users must engage with signage and employees (DI 02).
Accessibility Concerns
3D map does not indicate accessible navigation routes. The games do not provide translation for ESL users, audio translation for visually impaired users, or flexible phrasing.
AR Scavenger Hunt
Concept Description
AR headset that display a scavenger hunt of the galleries. As the user walks through the gallery, they will be asked to search for certain marine life based on the clues or puzzles provided.
Design Considerations
Users can scan their environment, engage with the fish, and navigate (DI 02). Users have a choice between the 8 gallery walkthrough or the individual walkthrough (DI 07).
Accessibility Concerns
May be difficult for visitors with glasses or visually impaired individuals to wear and interact with. Could create motion sickness for visitors with existing vestibular concerns.
Ok, that’s cool! But do users actually need any of this?
Turns out, yes they do! Here’s what we found:
We conducted 2 feedback sessions at the aquarium with users by printing out our concepts and pitching the idea to families, couples, and the aquarium staff. They provided us with their first impressions, initial thoughts, and what they would do differently to make the concept valuable at the aquarium.
User Feedback:
AR can be confusing, so we must provide alternative interaction options for users
Users are invested in learning about conservation at their own pace, so we need to support independent exploration
Gamification was very popular, so we need to ensure it is simple and visually engaging for all user age groups
User want to learn about conservation efforts, so this messaging must be reinforced through visuals and rewards
We turned user feedback into 1 wireframed concept
Final Concept Description
Our finalized concept merges our 1st and 2nd sketch concepts.This concept is a webapp with monthly scavenger search spotlighting one animal per gallery, revealing their story through interactive clues, hints, and puzzles.
Design Considerations: DI 01-07
The flexible scavenger search encourages exploration and empathy. Gamified features like difficulty levels, an interactive map, and collectible cards keep the experience engaging while reinforcing conservation messages.
Accessibility Ideas
We hoped to create a text-to-speech feature to read out information, a feature that plays real animal sounds, and make the written content easily understandable for all visitor age groups and languages.
& then we went back to the users for more feedback
Another tabling ! Here’s what we found:
Our team conducted think-aloud sessions by prompting each user(s) to complete a task they were given frame by frame. Question categories included first impressions, element or feature specific, and general questions. Here’s the feedback we received:
Intuitive Navigation: Align page flow with the aquarium’s layout, clearly listing galleries by floor and featured animals or habitats.
Clear UX Writing: Use accurate icons and instructions to clarify interactions.
Learning Through Rewards: Encourage education with digital and physical collectible cards, including rare blind packs.
Familiar Mental Models: Leverage recognizable icons and game mechanics to reduce learning effort.
Stronger Onboarding: Explain how the platform works, its goals, rewards upfront.
Clear Value & Expectations: Communicate features and benefits clearly to drive engagement and retention.
This entire process led us to design Finspire Explorer
How might we create a cohesive interactive experience that considers education, gamification, conservation, and access?
Education
Field Observations & Comp Analysis: Visited the Georgia Aquarium and Zoo Atlanta to observe how their signage, messaging, and interactive prototypes influence the visitor experience. Compared other cultural institutions (MET Museum, Monterey Bay Aquarium, etc.) to understand their approaches to gamification
Conservation
Contextual Inquiry | 12 Participants: To understand how visitors behave in the aquarium, we observed their interactions with the aquarium galleries, digital components, & signage. Gained reasoning and insight into their actions by asking follow-up questions.
Gamification
Visitor Survey | 111+ Responses: Collected survey data to identify visitor demographics, visiting frequency, preparedness, and general experiences with the animal galleries. We conducted 3 separate tabling sessions at the aquarium to cultivate a large, diverse dataset that is more representative of the visitors.
Accessibility
Guest AccessDark Mode: Avoid distracting users by keeping their focus on the physical habitats. Balances the dark, ambient lighting of the galleries.
Button Design: Buttons are large, spanning the width of the screen to make webapp accessible for children and older visitors.
& then we went back to the users for more feedback
Another tabling ! Here’s what we found:
Our team conducted think-aloud sessions by prompting each user(s) to complete a task they were given frame by frame. Question categories included first impressions, element or feature specific, and general questions. Here’s the feedback we received:
Intuitive Navigation: Align page flow with the aquarium’s layout, clearly listing galleries by floor and featured animals or habitats.
Clear UX Writing: Use accurate icons and instructions to clarify interactions.
Learning Through Rewards: Encourage education with digital and physical collectible cards, including rare blind packs.
Familiar Mental Models: Leverage recognizable icons and game mechanics to reduce learning effort.
Stronger Onboarding: Explain how the platform works, its goals, rewards upfront.
Clear Value & Expectations: Communicate features and benefits clearly to drive engagement and retention.
Work In Progress
