Project overview:

This project aimed to understand how interactive digital technology and physical touchpoints can enrich the visitor experience, assist navigation, and promote ecological preservation.

Context

Academic Program:

• Interaction Design Coursework (MSc / Post-Graduate Level)

Role:

• Lead Interaction & UX Researcher / Designer (Group Fieldwork & Individual Solution Extension)

Project Scope:

• Field Research, Data Synthesis, Ideation, System Architecture, Storyboarding, SCAMPER Iteration, and UX Evaluation

Timeline:

• 2025–2026 Academic Term

Methodologies

Naturalistic Observation:

• Field data logged across 5 days under varying weather conditions, times, and locations using Robson's (2011) framework.

Semi-Structured Guerrilla Interviews:

• Contextual interviews with park visitors, Royal Park gardeners, cafe staff, and tourists.

Qualitative Analysis:

• Deductive thematic analysis and multi-round Miro affinity mapping.

  
  

Ideation & Synthesis:

• Crazy 8s fast sketching, Dot Voting, HMW (How Might We) framing, SCAMPER framework, and Storyboarding.

  
  

Persona & Needs Mapping:

• Development of primary visitor archetypes and formal User Need Statements.

Sample Size

Naturalistic Field Observations & Semi-Structure Interviews:

• 200 participants observed across multiple areas of the park.

• Interviewed those who were willing to participate (that includes couples, park gardeners, café management, tourists, and local families).

Problem Statement

Visitors in St. James Park actively seek opportunities to interact with wildlife and navigate to popular landmarks, but they face significant friction:

Unguided Wildlife Interactions:

• Strong visitor interest leads to disruptive behaviour (e.g., feeding human food to birds, stepping on flower beds) due to a lack of accessible educational guidelines.

  
  

Navigational Disorientation:

• Sparse physical maps at gated entrances leave 88.2% of navigating visitors confused or disoriented, forcing park staff to constantly give directions.

  
  

Inaccessible Information:

• Existing static signage is non-interactive, limited to English, and fails to cater to non-English speakers, children, or visitors with disabilities.

Solution

An integrated Hybrid (Physical-Digital) System centred around educating of the park’s wildlife and to aid in navigation.

A ‘Wildlife Information Hub’ (Physical Touchpoint):

• A physical interactive panel featuring accessible foot-pedal, dual-language QR triggers, audio options, and tactile feedback (gamification of the foot-pedal vibration and sounds) for visitors of all ages and abilities.

"Walk With Me" Guide (Digital Touchpoint):

• A lightweight, web-based companion (no app download required) offering personalised audio tours (a podcast like "walk with me guide"), custom routes based on visitor preferences, real-time hotspot tracking, and multilingual support.

Key Insights and Breakdown

Insight 1: High Sentiment vs. Disruptive Behaviour

• 21% of observed park visitors directly engage with wildlife

• 90.5% exhibit positive emotions (happy/calm) during these interactions.

Breakdown:

However, 66.7% of those interacting engage in intrusive or disruptive behaviour (e.g., feeding sandwich bread to birds, trampling flower beds). These visitors operated out of enthusiasm rather than malice, highlighting an educational gap.

Insight 2: Navigational Friction & Digital Gaps

88.2% of people actively navigating the park expressed confusion or disorientation.

Breakdown:

While 47% attempt to use digital technology (like Google Maps), generic map apps do not show park facilities, toilets, or wildlife hotspots, causing visitors to repeatedly interrupt park staff for help.

Insight 3: Staff Operational Strain

• 100% of interviewed park workers highlighted nature preservation as their top priority.

  
  

Breakdown:

Staff repeatedly get distracted from essential park maintenance because they must act as human direction posts and continuously remind visitors not to feed or step on nature.

Outcome

Design Recommendations:

For persona archetypes (that represent the average visitor we witnessed at the park) like Alex Smith (Local Family Visitor focused on safety and quick facility access) and Linh Trần (Time-conscious Tourist overcoming language barriers) the following design recommendations were constructed.

• Use an on-site QR code or web links to easily help transient visitors navigate the park.

  
  

• Increase the amount of physical maps not just at the entrances but within other different areas of the park too.

• Generate contextual boards located near specific wildlife or plant clusters (e.g., Water Birds information Hub near the lake).

• Gamification of physical navigation boards (foot pedals/buttons) to allow seamless interaction for young children, wheelchair users, and visually impaired visitors.

  
  

• Frame safety rules through interactive discovery (e.g. approved feeding queues for specific animals with foods approved by the park staff) rather than strictly restrictive "Do Not" signage.

Critical Evaluation and Reflection

Success:

• 200 observational entries provided empirical proof of navigation friction (88.2%) and disruptive wildlife interactions (66.7%), preventing subjective design decisions.

  
  

• Conducted a joint pilot observations prior to individual data gathering ensured consistent data coding across the team.

  
  

• Utilised the SCAMPER framework to developed ideation and effectively transformed a basic, static physical panel into a flexible physical-digital ecosystem catered to diverse accessibility needs.

  
  

Challenges:

• Inferring visitor emotions from distance observation was inherently subjective. While interviews helped validate these inferences, future studies should include immediate post-interaction exit polling.

• Fieldwork was conducted over a specific time window. Seasonal changes (e.g., summer tourist spikes vs. winter weather) significantly affect crowd behaviour and park layout usage.

  
  

• Physical installations in historic Royal Parks face strict heritage preservation guidelines, power/Wi-Fi limitations, and weatherproofing challenges that require ongoing collaboration with park management.