Distant Identities
Role
User Research, Ideation, Sketching, Prototyping,
UX Writing, Usability Testing
Duration
Tools
Team
2.5 months
Figma
Miro
Amanda Asplund
Connie Oh
Naomi Strandberg
Rixt Baron
Vinicius Sueiro
Marie Kaiser
About This Project
For this project, we collaborated with the World Fuzhou Heritage Gallery (WFHG) in Sibu, Malaysia and a team of computer science and UX design students from the University College of Technology Sarawak (UCTS). Our goal was to create design possibilities for the gallery, working closely with the UCTS student team.
The WFHG is a collection center for artifacts used throughout the Fuzhou migration to Sibu, Malaysia. The gallery aims to be a place for Fuzhou descendants to recognize, learn and identify with their own ethnic culture, but needed guidance on making Fuzhou history more accessible for younger generations.
We held co-design workshops with students from Sibu with and without Fuzhou heritage to gather insights and deliver a complete redesigned website and concept for an interactive mural walkthrough.
This project was an international collaboration, with team members and stakeholders from six different countries and diverse ethnic backgrounds working remotely on this challenge. It was part of the Cultural Assimilation in Digital Interactive Museum (CADIM) project of the University College of Technology Sarawak, which won the Entrepreneur prize in UNESCO TechCul 2020.
Design Challenge
The WFHG faces the challenge of keeping up with the global development of technology while supporting learning around identity and identity building.
How can we create a design that makes the gallery a central, safe, educational and interesting space in the city, using technology to enhance the visitor's experience?
Website before redesign
Solution
Our solution to this design challenge was to redesign the World Fuzhou Heritage Gallery's website to make it more accessible for younger generations and to develop an interactive mural concept to enhance the visitors' learning experience.
The redesign of the website included simplifying the navigation and making the information more engaging and interactive. The interactive mural concept aimed to provide an immersive experience, allowing visitors to explore and learn about the Fuzhou heritage in a fun and interactive way. The concept of the interactive mural was co-designed with students from Sibu with and without Fuzhou heritage to ensure that it was inclusive and representative of the local community.
Design Process
We followed the Reflective Transformative Design Process (RTDP), which involved conducting desk research to understand the culture and environment of Fuzhou descendants and migrants in Sibu, meetings/semi-structured interviews with UCTS students, and co-design workshops with empathic dialogue and casual conversations.
Co-Design Workshops
We conducted our co-design workshops remotely with the UCTS students, using the online collaboration tool Miro. This allowed us to gather insights and share ideas in real time despite being in different locations. During the workshops, we used empathic dialogue and casual conversations to understand the needs and perspectives of the students.
Rather than traditional Q&A interviewing, we found that building trust was more likely through the casual atmosphere of dialogue. This approach to co-design helped to foster tighter teamwork.
We also shared our design concepts and received feedback on the amount of interest and feasibility of implementation, which helped us determine which concept to move forward with and expand upon.
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Sketching & Prototyping
All team members developed different sketches for different ideas that came up during the ideation phase. These sketches have been brought to the co-design workshops to discuss and decide which direction to pursue further.
We used Figma to create digital prototypes of our redesigned website and interactive mural concept. This allowed us to visualize our ideas and make changes and adjustments more easily. It also made it easier to share and present our designs to the UCTS student group.
Usability Testing
The interactive prototypes helped us gather valuable feedback and make necessary adjustments before moving forward with the final design. It was an effective way to communicate our design decisions and ensure that our solution met the needs of the users and the goals of the project. It was important to involve the students in this process as they were our main proxies to the target users of the website, and their input was valuable in ensuring that the designs met their needs and expectations.
Final Design
Website
Desktop
Mobile
Murals
Style Guide
To ensure consistency and continuity, we added a style guide to the redesigned website. This guide provides detailed instructions on the use of colors, typography, imagery, and other design elements.
This way, anyone taking over the website in the future would be able to add more content, while maintaining the overall aesthetic and user experience of the website.
What I Learned
As we continue to navigate a globalized world, issues of culture, nationality, and ethnicity have become increasingly important to explore. Through our project, we had the privilege of gaining valuable insights from members of diasporic communities who may face challenges in understanding and balancing their sense of belonging in their "host" country with their ethnic identity. It was a truly enlightening and rewarding experience for us.
