FLEXOME

The Brief : To design a visitor experience for zoos in India in order to excite and interest visitors about the natural world which could ultimately lead to ideas of conservation amongst the masses.

Why zoos are the best place for this form of education :

• Visited by 50million visitors across 170 zoos in India and 600million across the globe.

(11% of the world population)

• Visitors get to experience wildlife first-hand

• Opportunity to engage visitors in a multisensory learning experience

As humans we all learnin different ways. Some of us are visual learners while others learn from text. Some learn from physically making and working with their hands while another may be more perceptive to sound. A zoo provides a space for all the above engagements hence the possibilities are endless.

Spaces of study :
We visited several zoos acroos India. Bannergatta(Bangalore), Delhi Zoo and Mysore Zoo were studied intrinsically. There was alot of Primary and secondary research done on the visitors in these spaces.

Primary Research :

Information required
Direct :

• Where do they get their information from

• Accessibility of the zoo:to the zoo and within the zoo

Abstract :

• Expectations

• Aspirations

• Reactions

• Emotions

What I hope to get out of understanding this

• Learn what preconceived notions influence the zoo experience

• What does a visitor take back from the zoo

• How do we incorporate information distribution to align with natural habits/instincts of visitors.

Tools

• Personal meaning mapping

Entry:

a]What is the need of a zoo?

b]Are you here to see anything in particular?

c]Why are you here?

Exit:

a]Ask them to show the photographs that they took to get a glimpse of what they look at.

b]Did the zoo meet your expectations?

c]Was this your first time?

d]What is the need for a zoo?(To see if the role of the zoo is better understood on exit)

e]Why is a particular animal your favourite animal?

f]How much time did you spend in the zoo?

• Use case Table

• Ecology map

• Shadowing

Equipment used

a]Voice recorders

b]Camera-Video+Pictures

c]Book

d]Zoo map

Visitor profile study on their reactions to different creatures. Done as part of a study between aviant,land and water creatures.

Vision
To create curious visitors while making the zoo experience more cohesive and memorable
Children between the age of 8-12 years and their parents.

Mission
To create curious visitors while making the zoo experience more cohesive and memorable.

Target Audience
Children between the age of 8-12 years and their parents.

Understanding a childs vision

Design Principle

1.Start from a familar point to engage better with children and capture their curiosity.

2.Be direct: As children will be most interested when they understand the purpose.

3.Provide tangible objects that they can feel,smell,hear.

PLAY

After ideating on forms, I felt a puzzle worked best. The above forms have been inspired from the idea of wanting to make the puzzle kinectic in order to make it more attractive.

Final Concept

Each cube will represent an ecosystem. The cube will talk about animals that are common to the ecosystem and are present in the zoo. This cube will embark the child and the accompanying adult on a scavenger hunt to find these animals. Each cube will come with a map of the zoo that highlights the animals they need to find in order to complete the puzzle that forms a narritive on completeion.They will do this by the help of clues provided on the box that celeberate each animals unique feature and match them to the signages at the enclosure.

Aim:

1,Draw attention to the non-charasmatic animals in the zoo.

2.Sustain a visitors interest thtoughout the length of the zoo

3.To economically re-design the zoo experience in order to give the visitors a more cohesive understanding of the animal world.