The Polaroid Quest is a photography game for the Rijksmuseum. The product concept aims to create a discursive experience uncovering fundamental human needs within the Rijksmuseum’s collection and enhancing players’ sense of time.
Concept
The Polaroid Quest is a photography game for pairs of visitors in the Rijksmuseum. The game product resembles a treasure hunt that challenges players to find and photograph 6 specific artworks in the Rijksmuseum, in relation to a fundamental human need. All players receive a camera with a photo limit of 10 shots, so they have some buffer for mistakes and can choose to capture other artworks and spaces of their liking. For their camera, each player chooses a thematic lens from a set of fundamental human needs, like ‘independence’, ‘community’ or ‘comfort’. During their quest, they view the art from the perspective of this relatable desire that all people have. The lens has an overview with 6 challenges, consisting of gallery numbers and visual or textual clues.
Upon selecting a challenge, navigating to the corresponding gallery and photographing the correct artwork for that clue, the player receives information that explains how the fundamental human need is represented in the artwork by the artist, and how that relates to its historical context. After completing all challenges the player can hand the camera and lens back in at the multi-media service desk.
Components
The camera bodies are hand-held devices equipped with a neck strap for easy carrying. The housing features a microprocessor with an AI-powered image recognition model, digital storage for photos and information cards content, and a double sided printer.
The device has a slot on the backside into which the different lens dials can be clicked, featuring 6 LED lights that indicate the status of each challenge through the small windows in the dial. For every game the camera is loaded with 10 photo cards, which the user can read from the number on the backside.
The lens dials serve as the thematic challenge overviews for the game. At the start of the game, users pick one of the coloured attachments and mount it onto the backside of their camera. To select a specific
challenge (destination gallery and clue) the player rotates the disc to align a segment with the arrow pointing to the viewfinder. Little
windows at the centre of the dial let the LED signals from the main camera body through to the user to indicate the completion status of each challenge.
The polaroid cards give historical context to artworks in relation to
the fundamental human need of the thematic lens. The 50-word texts are complementary to the information signs on the wall but can also be read separately without prior knowledge. The cards also include metadata such as the title, artist, year of creation, art style, type and historical period of the artwork.
Context
The Rijksmuseum, the primary stakeholder in this project, is the largest and most visited museum in the Netherlands. With over 2.4 million annual visitors, it seeks to connect people with art and history, offering a rich collection of over one million objects. Its strategy emphasizes deepening public engagement by telling compelling stories that surprise and inspire visitors. The museum aims to maintain high visitor satisfaction while expanding its reach, particularly among young adults.
The design challenge addresses the Rijksmuseum’s need to innovate while preserving its traditional values. The problem lies in balancing technological advancements with the museum’s classical identity, ensuring that new products align with its mission. The Polaroid Quest is developed within the framework of the museum’s 2023 – 2028 strategic plan, focusing on engaging visitors through reflection on shared human experiences.
Users
The target user group for this product is the Dutch Young adult Fun seeking Explorer (DYFE), a profile that is underrepresented in the museum but has significant potential for engagement. This audience is characterised by curiosity and independence, has a need for social interaction and exciting activities, and likes to engage with trendy services, possibly involving photography and multi-media. The profile combines a visit type from the Rijksmuseum’s own audience segmentation tool, a role from Falk’s identity related motivations model and a particular demographic population.
Human-centred design methods
To understand how to connect this audience with art and history, the project employs a human-centred design methodology. A contextmapping study is conducted with 7 DYFE target users to uncover their values and needs regarding a visit to the Rijksmuseum in specific, and the connection with art and history in general. The rich results are analysed and supplemented by findings from desk and field research, e.g. literature review, employee interviews, and observations of guided programs. A dozen insights on context, interaction and product level are found and translated to requirements and opportunities for the design of a new product. The interaction with the new product is envisioned to be explorative, playful and challenging.
In a creative process of multiple months, including a design sprint and three iterations, a product concept is developed. Low-fidelity prototypes are built and tested with DYFE users in the Rijksmuseum. The form of the final product is a photography game, the content revolves around the notion of fundamental human needs. The Polaroid Quest challenges visitors to view art through a human lens and connects the historical objects to the timeless and universal desires that all people can relate to. The juxtaposition of contrasting views on the same artwork and the social nature of the game lead to a discursive museum experience in which visitors discuss and curate a thematic narrative from various voices.
Digital product
The Polaroid Quest is also available as an integration in the existing Rijksmuseum mobile app and multi-media device that runs self-guided tours for visitors.
Project duration
September 2024 – March 2025
COURSE
Graduation Project / Master Thesis (Design for Interaction)
client
Rijksmuseum Innovation Lab
assessing COACHES
Dr.ir. Arnold Vermeeren,
Ing. Aadjan van der Helm, Evita Goetssch
final grade
8,0 / 10,0