Awarded with a Golden Dot Best Immersive Concept 2020
During the Golden Dot awards (GDA) 2020, prizes will be awarded to the best student work of the past academic year of Communication and Multimedia Design (CMD) students. Work is nominated by lecturers and an external professional jury from the digital industry selects the winners.
During the last 7 weeks of the minor 'User Experience Design' we got the opportunity from Irene Kamp to design a digital system for the ‘new normal’. Because of the current COVID-19 virus, everything will change, also public life. We have to think of new ways to organise our society differently.
Frame
Because this case is really broad of itself, I framed it in the beginning of the project into the cultural sector. All events in the cultural sector can’t take place at this moment, they are cancelled at least till September 1st. These events need to have another way to continue to exist within the new normal, and some organisations already thought about this and come up with solutions. These solutions are mostly static, and don’t have the excitement experience like visiting them in real live.
Focus & second frame
I want to design a digital system where people can still visit cultural events, and enjoy them in a different but exciting way. They can visit them from home, together with family, friends, colleges, and other people, even though they are not in the same space.Because the cultural sector is also very broad, I’m taking one organisation with one focus of events within my concept, namely the concerts of the Melkweg in Amsterdam.
More information about why this has become the focus, you can find here.
This project has three main stakeholders: the Melkweg, the visitors & the artists.
The Melkweg and artists needs to continue concerts to stay existed, and the visitors
still want to get entertained within the new normal.
Solution: Melkweg at home
Users can have the Melkweg in their own house! Concerts are becoming real with a livestream filmed by different cameras, smart lights installed in the room and a smart wristband for an exciting concert experience.
The online concerts can be experienced with the ‘Melkweg at home package’. Within this package you get 2 smart lights, 1 smart wrist band and a drink of choice. With this package they can experience different concerts on the livestream website.
Do it yourself mentality
Because the Melkweg stands for a do it yourself mentality, the package can be installed by the visitor itself at home. The smart lights needs to be installed within the room they want to experience the concert, and before the concert they need to connect it with the Melkweg website. The smart wristband they can also install at home, and later connect with the Melkweg website. The drink of choice can be mix right before the concert, so it can be consumed during it.
Live chat and camera
During the concert, the user has the possibility to place comment in the live chat and put on their camera so the artists can react to the public. The artist is seeing a projection of the chat and the visitors that put on their camera. In this way they have interaction with the public and can react to things they say and do.
Artists filmed by different cameras
Users can choose their own camera, or let the Melkweg play different cameras during the concert. In this way, the user can have more interaction with the concert.
Costs package
The package can be bought or rented on the website. The costs of this is 90 euro for buying it, and 10 euro each month for renting.
Renting the package will give the user automatically discount on the concert tickets. This is a sort of replacement for the ‘Melkweg subscription’, they usually use at the Melkweg. In this way, it will be cheaper and more in line with the ‘laagdrempelige’ value of the Melkweg.
Wristband
The smart wristband will add value to the music experience, by transfer the vibrations of the music. The effect will mimic the experience when you are in a concert hall and you feel the beat of the music through your whole body. Read deskresearch on smart clothing and technology for more information.
Mix your own drink
The drink can be mixed by the user at home. The different elements of the drink are separated within different bags.
Online concert journey
The highlights of a real concert experience is coming back in the journey of the online concert experience. These highlights I’ve found during interview with the visitors of the Melkweg. You can read the interviews here.
Order and install journey
Before the user can experience the concert with the package, they first need to order it and install it at home. The process is worked out in a user journey below. The connecting part is also worked out on the website.
Sitemap
The website consists of 6 different pages. The package page and the concert page are the pages where conversion is taking place. Here the user get’s the opportunity to order the package, and to buy concert tickets.
Long time value
A recent research from Kantar found that from the 1.137 Dutch people, 29% of them expect to wait one year to visit a cultural organisation, and 38% says that they are likely to visit a cultural institution less often in the coming period than before.
COVID already had a huge impact on the cultural sector, read deskresearch Corona impact culture industry for this. And the research of Kantar is making the future for the culture industry not better. This is why there need to be a solution that can be used, as a back up, from home, even though Corona times are over.
It will be a solution for the new normal, that the Melkweg can always use to inspire more people with new talents. Even when there can be concerts again in the Melkweg, the solution will continue online, for the people that can’t or don’t want to visit the Melkweg. In this way, the Melkweg have access to a langer group for their concerts.
