The Terrestrial Lens

Crafting educational AR experiences at the Lost Creatures Exhibition

Overview

The Terrestrial Lens is an augmented reality (AR) prototype designed to enhance engagement and learning within the Queensland Museum. The interactive experience allows visitors to view skeletal dinosaur artefacts and watch them come to life through animation and sound. By merging physical exhibits with digital storytelling, the project transforms traditional museum interactions into immersive, educational experiences that spark curiosity and deepen understanding of natural history.

Duration spent:

6 weeks

Role:

UX/UI Designer

Project Team:
UX/UI Designers

The problem

Visitors at the Queensland Museum often engage passively with traditional exhibits, limiting their ability to connect with the stories behind the artefacts. Skeletal dinosaur displays, while scientifically valuable, can appear static and abstract, making it difficult for audiences, especially younger visitors, to imagine these creatures as they once were.

The challenge was to design an interactive, educational experience that transforms passive observation into active discovery. The solution needed to enhance learning, inspire curiosity, and align with the museum’s goal of making science and history more accessible through emerging AR technologies.

🎯Goals and success criteria

Create an immersive AR experience that brings static skeletal fossils to life through movement and sound.
Enhance visitor engagement by encouraging exploration and interaction rather than passive viewing.
Educate users on dinosaur anatomy and behaviour in an accessible and memorable way.

At least 80% of participants report increased engagement compared to traditional exhibits.
The prototype operates intuitively with minimal guidance, validating usability for all age groups.
Positive feedback from museum stakeholders on the potential for integration into future exhibits.

How might we improve the education and engagement at the Dinosaur Lost Creature Exhibit in Queensland Museum for young children?

Solution preview

Immersive and Comfortable Experience

The Terrestrial Lens headset features a lightweight design and vibrant colour palette to appeal to younger audiences while ensuring comfort during extended use.

The design prioritises ease of wear and user safety, reducing barriers to participation and maintaining immersion throughout the experience.

Bringing Dinosaurs to Life

Through AR visualisation, skeletal fossils transform into life-sized, moving dinosaurs that interact naturally with their environment.

A simple hand gesture allows users to trigger animations, fostering a sense of agency and wonder as they watch prehistoric creatures “come alive” in the museum space.

Interactive Learning

The experience merges education with exploration. Users can listen to authentic soundscapes, observe lifelike movement, and access contextual information about each species.

For younger users or accessibility needs, narration provides spoken educational content, creating an inclusive, multisensory learning experience.

Research

Research methods used:

Qualitative User Interviews
Contextual Review
Observational Research

Quantitative Survey
Usability Testing
User Feedback

Context

The Terrestrial Lens is an interactive AR prototype adapted from the Lazarus Portal concept, designed to engage children aged 8 – 13 and bridge the gap between education and immersion at the Queensland Museum. The experience combines augmented reality and motion-sensing technology to “resurrect” skeletal displays and fossils, transforming them into lifelike, interactive creatures within an embodied storytelling environment.

The prototype aims to make learning memorable and dynamic, allowing users to explore museum artefacts beyond static observation. When activated, The Terrestrial Lens overlays digital reconstructions onto existing exhibits, bringing prehistoric specimens to life through animation, sound, and user interaction, turning passive viewing into active discovery

User interviews and survey

I interviewed 15 users who are between the ages of 8 - 25 years and are or work in a school environment, and asked them about their engagement levels in the Queensland Museum exhibits. The interview data is used to understand the user's experience, needs and frustrations with visiting exhibits at the museum. The users reported their experience with the Queensland Museum Dinosaur Exhibit and had similar answers.

80%

It gets boring quickly

Users informed they look around the exhibits but do not spend long and move on to the next exhibit.

90%

Do not read the excerpt

Younger users did not read the excerpt, it was too high to reach and not interesting enough to be read.

90%

Lack of interactivity

Users informed that they wondered around the exhibit space and quickly moved on when there was nothing to do.

Although the Queensland Museum is educational and has historical artefacts, it lacks long-term engagement in the Dinosaur Lost Creature Exhibit. Users found they did not stay too long, and adults read the excerpts, whilst children could not reach or did not bother reading the excerpts. There is a gap in children not learning the historical content on dinosaurs, and not getting the most out of their experience.

Observational Research

To understand how visitors engaged with the exhibit, I conducted four site observations between 10 AM – 1 PM, analysing user flow, engagement duration, and interaction patterns.

Across all demographics, visitors consistently gravitated toward the Muttaburrasaurus skeleton upon entry, despite it not being the first display. The average visit time was around 15 minutes, although behaviours varied: older adults read the signage in detail, younger adults focused on visuals, and children under 10 lost interest within five minutes. Families stayed longer mainly due to parents managing their children.

The projector wall failed to sustain engagement, as users expected interactivity but found only a looping video. These insights revealed a key opportunity to design more interactive and immersive experiences to maintain visitor interest.

Family interaction patterns for spatial and accessibility considerations

Movement mapping of visitor demographics informing spatial design and interaction flow

Contextual Reviews

I conducted a contextual review of interactive educational experiences to understand how leading projects merge embodied interaction and learning through technology.

Both Froggipedia and ArtLens Studio exemplify immersive engagement through motion, sensors, AR, and visual storytelling. Froggipedia effectively uses augmented reality to teach biology through intuitive interaction, while ArtLens Studio transforms learning into play by enabling users to create artwork using body gestures within a projected environment.

These projects, along with insights from Edmond’s “Creative Engagement” framework, attractors, sustainers, and relators, informed how The Terrestrial Lens could maintain long-term user engagement. Our design takes inspiration from ArtLens’ kinaesthetic learning and Froggipedia’s educational use of AR, while integrating “hot spots” within the museum to encourage exploration, discovery, and repeat interaction.

Interactive experiences and installations for educational purposes

Building empathy

The primary target audience for this project is children aged 8 – 13. Drawing from user research insights, I developed a detailed persona and empathy map to align design decisions with user motivations, learning behaviours, and engagement goals throughout the project.

Persona and empathy map development

User persona informed by qualitative research

User empathy map

Insights from the persona and empathy map showed that children are most engaged when learning feels playful, interactive, and rewarding. Static displays quickly lose their attention, but curiosity and imagination thrive through movement, visuals, and storytelling.

User Journey

I mapped the ideal journey of a child using The Terrestrial Lens to illustrate how curiosity evolves into learning through immersive AR interaction and embodied exploration within the museum.

Ideal experience with The Terrestrial Lens user journey map

In Isaac’s journey, he achieves his goal of learning through play. The experience feels intuitive and engaging, allowing him to interact seamlessly with the dinosaurs while gaining knowledge in a fun, memorable way.

Concept

With a better understanding of user needs and balancing business needs, I delve into the information architecture and wireframes.

Story Board

Story board of using The Terrestrial Lens

The Terrestrial Lens is an embodied AR experience designed as a headset device powered by a smartphone. Using motion tracking and real-time AR rendering, the Lens transforms the museum floor into an interactive learning environment where skeletal displays are “resurrected” through user movement and gesture.

Upon arrival, visitors collect their headset at reception and receive brief onboarding instructions. Once activated, the Lens responds to natural gestures: walking, pointing, or swiping, to bring exhibits like the Muttaburrasaurus to life. Users can observe, “pet,” and interact with dinosaurs as they move, hear authentic sounds, and access layered educational audio about each fossil’s history.

This design encourages physical exploration, curiosity, and multisensory engagement, turning passive observation into an active, memorable museum experience. An intuitive exit button ensures user control and accessibility throughout the interaction.

Illustration design

As a UX/UI Designer, my team and I focused on creating engaging dinosaur visuals and integrating them into Spark AR, enabling users to spawn and interact with dinosaurs in their own environment.

We explored multiple illustration styles before deciding on a stylised, cartoon-like aesthetic rather than realistic depictions. This design direction was informed by our target audience of children aged 8 – 13, ensuring the dinosaurs felt friendly, safe, and approachable while still maintaining their educational value. Since the AR experience uses the actual scale of the skeletons, a softer, more playful visual style helps reduce intimidation and enhances accessibility and engagement for younger users.

Evolving dinosaur illustrations

Exploring technology

We explored various AR platforms that would be suitable for the project. We looked into Spark AR Studio, a user-friendly platform for building augmented reality experiences, typically used for Instagram filters and environmental interactions.

Our team hand-illustrated the dinosaurs in the chosen stylised aesthetic, then segmented each into individual body parts for animation in Adobe After Effects. These motion assets were imported into Spark AR to simulate lifelike movement and interaction. We tested the AR filter through the Instagram app to validate responsiveness and environmental alignment before housing the phone within a VR headset, modified to allow a rear camera view of the museum space.

We also explored alternatives such as Easy VR for environmental mapping. With additional time and resources, we would further enhance fidelity by integrating advanced AR software and Arduino-based motion sensors for more dynamic embodied interaction.

Animating dinosaur illustrations and testing Spark AR

Once complete, we tested the prototype and received positive feedback. A few noted on improving the usability of the buttons within the software, as there was delayed feedback. However, after testing, The Terrestrial Lens evolved into an engaging, user-friendly AR experience that successfully bridged education and play. The combination of stylised visuals, intuitive motion controls, and embodied interaction created a design that both captivated young audiences and reinforced learning outcomes. These insights and refinements informed the final high-fidelity design showcased below.

Design solution

The final design of The Terrestrial Lens brings together immersive storytelling, embodied interaction, and accessible AR technology to transform museum learning into a playful, memorable experience.

Using the headset, users can bring skeletal dinosaurs to life in their real environment, seeing them move, hearing their sounds, and engaging through intuitive hand gestures. The design balances education with engagement, allowing children to explore prehistoric life in an interactive way that deepens understanding while fostering curiosity and excitement.

The Terrestrial Lens with POV

See the process video here:

Testing & Outcome

We showcased The Terrestrial Lens prototype to our Design Unit Coordinator and peers for evaluation. The testing focused on usability, engagement, and educational impact, key measures aligned with our project goals.

Feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Testers successfully navigated the Spark AR experience and intuitively triggered the dinosaurs using simple gestures. Participants praised the realism of the animations and the inclusion of sound, noting it made the experience more immersive and memorable. The layered storytelling and ability to access educational information directly through the AR interface were identified as major strengths.

Most importantly, 90% of testers agreed that the interaction style and visual design were highly appropriate and engaging for children aged 8 – 13. The experience achieved its goal of transforming passive museum viewing into active, embodied learning. The results validated our design direction, demonstrating that playful, motion-driven interaction can effectively bridge engagement and education in museum environments.

Learnings

Delivering The Terrestrial Lens within a tight timeframe challenged my adaptability, collaboration, and decision-making as a designer. The project reinforced the importance of clear communication, focusing on user impact over perfection, and balancing creativity with practicality, lessons that have shaped how I now approach complex UX problems.

Understand your limitations
Our original concept fell short due to limited access to information and difficulties achieving an embodied experience. After pivoting mid-project, we lost nearly three weeks of work, but through strong communication and teamwork, we rebuilt momentum and produced a cohesive, high-quality prototype. I coordinated user testing and scheduling, ensuring the experience aligned with our design goals and educational intent.

Work on your strengths
Time constraints demanded that we prioritise what we each did best. By leveraging our strengths and iterating efficiently based on feedback, we created a functional, engaging prototype that met user needs and project objectives. This experience strengthened my confidence in designing under pressure and deepened my interest in crafting embodied, interactive experiences that merge education and play.