Handheld Guides: Location Triggering

Wherever and whenever it happens, being in the right place, at the right time is always a satisfying moment. Take that into the interpretation & storytelling world, add the 'right content' into the mix and you've created an incredible visitor experience.

The right content, in the right place, at the right time is something we should always aim for when designing a handheld guide experience. If a visitor is to fully engage with a site they need it to be an incredibly satisfying onsite experience, and a major part of that is ensuring that it's as easy as possible for people to access the relevant content. A frustrating experience is one where the visitor is having to flick through a paper guide to find the content, or thumbing through the tracks on an MP3 player to match it to the item or exhibition they're currently viewing. A satisfying experience is one where the handheld device automatically delivers the visitor the content, leaving the individual to enjoy the sights and sounds of a site without having to take a time out and fiddle with a book or audio player.

Location triggered content - whether indoors or outdoors - is an amazing experience. The content coming to the visitor rather than the visitor having to search for the content means that even those who are technology shy can still fully engage with a site and share the same experience as that enjoyed by a visitor who likes to interact with technology. Our award winning Culloden Battlefield guide is a great example of the power of location triggering. At Culloden, a key National Trust for Scotland property, visitors simply place the guide around their neck and head out onto the moor. As they walk along the pathways the device uses GPS to trigger each piece of location specific content - exactly where it needs to be played, each and every time. This seamless delivery of content allows the visitor to enjoy the scenery and connect with the unique environment in a way they would never be able to do if they were having to hunt down marker posts and insert numbers into a device. In fact, an added benefit of using location triggered content is that markers and interpretive panels can be kept to a minimum, leaving a site clutter-free.

Location triggering is just one means of enabling an incredible experience through content delivery. However it's a technique which isn't appropriate for all sites. At those sites where the visitor is required to drive the content through input selection, simply by making the most of software intelligence and carefully planning the user interface it is still possible to minimise the interruptions caused by searching for content and deliver a heightened visitor experience.

Handheld Guides: Interface Design

Every handheld guide should blend into the background and become a seamless part of the overall visitor experience. An essential part in ensuring that this happens is creating a user interface for the guide that is truly intuitive and takes a minimal amount of explanation on handover by the onsite team.

The easiest way to ensure that your interface is intuitive, is to use interfaces that exist in the wider world to create a framework for your site’s handheld guide. We are all using mobile phones, PCs & tablets in our day-to-day lives for work and pleasure. Through this use we all have expectations on how we expect a device to work. We expect to be handed a device and for it to work in a way that is familiar to us from the very start.

If you fail to base your interface design on existing models - it can have a detrimental affect on the overall visitor experience. The time taken to become familiar with a new interface eats into the visit-time, and delays the user from getting ‘stuck in’ to the exhibit or attraction - which of course is the reason why they’re there!

There are a couple of simple design and structure rules which we like to adhere to, which includes using recognisable icons, as well as standard functionality. Button images for functions such as play, stop, skip & back should look like the buttons we all see each and everyday. Sure, tweak the design here and there to fit in with your brand or a certain theme, but do not be tempted to reinvent the wheel!

Using an induction movie at the beginning of the tour is a great way of reinforcing to the visitor that they’re more than likely already familiar with how the guide works. It also helps to build their confidence in showing that they’re in charge of the device and in complete control of the content it delivers. When visiting your site the visitor should perceive themselves as being in control of the guide, rather than being a slave to technology.

Handheld Guides: Social Considerations

When designing a handheld guide it's important to consider the complete visitor experience. But as well as that, it's important to think about the social context of a visit.

My brother-in-law recently visited a major heritage site in the UK and noted individuals from coach parties and family groups were walking around the site in isolation whilst listening to the onsite audio tour. Where is the fun in that? When I enjoy a day out with my family, we do it as a 'family' not as a collection of individuals that simply share a name. Part of the fun is talking about the things that you can see; the stories you're listening to; and sharing your personal take on the complete experience. A handheld guide that fails to encourage these discussions or one that prevents the discussions from even taking place is detrimental to the overall visitor experience.

A handheld guide is there to enhance the experience, and there are a number of simple things which can be done to achieve this within the social context of a visit.

The first is to carefully choose the headset that is to accompany the guide. A two piece headset shuts out the outside world and isolates an individual, acting as a barrier to conversation. Aside from that, at an outdoor attraction with both ears covered the visitor is unable to sample the true atmosphere of a site. With this in mind, our preference is to deploy a single piece headset as it enables a visitor to stay connected with their party, the environment and the audio tour, itself.

Away from the hardware, content scripting also plays a significant role. If individual content pieces occupy visitors for too long it can have a detrimental affect on 'discussion time' as the visitor is keen to move onto the next point of interest, feeling that they have been in their current location for long enough. So how long should your content be? Some studies suggest that less than 30 seconds is the optimum duration for stimulating conversation, but of course, duration can be influenced by subject matter so we tend to take this figure with a pinch of salt. However, when scripting we do work hard to ensure the duration of the 'primary' tour content is as tight as possible but in a way that doesn't have a detrimental affect on the narrative of the tour. We're then able to provide more detail through 'secondary' content which enables those visitors who are interested in finding out more to dig deeper into selected themes, stories and characters. The duration of secondary content can be a little longer in length as the visitor has shown an interest in finding out more.

When designing a handheld guide if you ignore the social context of a visit, you will diminish the onsite experience. Careful consideration over hardware and content creation can prevent this. Think about the times you've visited sites with family and friends; how did the audio guide affect the dynamic of the group? Did this influence your overall experience? Using this personal experience is a great way of improving the visitor experience on your own site, and provides first hand insight into the importance of the social aspect of a visit to any heritage site or visitor attraction.

Handheld Guides: Understanding the Visitor Experience

One of the key points we're always keen to stress during pitches, proposals and presentations is that it is never technology for technology's sake. It is about choosing and using the right technology in such a way that it will deliver (and hopefully exceed) the desired visitor experience. It is all well and good packing your solution with the latest functionality, but if it is just there 'for show' then it shouldn't really be there at all.

We should never forget that a handheld solution - whether audio or multi-media - is just a small part of a larger visitor experience and it needs to be designed and developed in such a way that it dovetails perfectly with all other experiences onsite. For example, how will the device work alongside fixed A/V installations? Can the device be used to compliment a visitor's interactions with costumed actors, visitor centre staff and tour guides? How are visitors engaging with the physical environment and can the device improve upon this? Will this solution suit both an individual and those visitors who are part of a coach party?

We recently spoke to a client about how we could improve the existing interpretation for an outdoor walk. Having studied visitor behaviour it became clear that although many were satisfied with the existing interpretation of the key features close to the walking route, there was a desire to find out more about the landscape that they could see in the far off distance. We concluded that an Augmented Reality (AR) interface would be a simple and effective way of bringing this information to the visitor without detracting from the current experience or spoiling the landscape. In essence, the visitor would simply hold the device towards the landscape they were interested in and touch the onscreen tag to trigger the relevant content. The AR wasn't the focus of the solution, it was simply a means of allowing us to deliver an enhanced and improved onsite visitor experience.

When designing a solution we spend a lot of time in the early stages working alongside our clients looking at the bigger picture as all sites have different needs, different visitors, and different desired experiences. In our experience one size doesn't fit all and taking the time at the beginning of a project to consider the overall visitor experience is a key element to creating an amazing onsite experience.