Electric City Aquarium & Reptile Den: Interactive Kiosk Experience
Electric City Aquarium & Reptile Den: Interactive Kiosk Experience
Overview
Overview
Overview
Conservation messaging usually gravitates toward the same handful of species, the ones with the spotlight, the plush toys, the campaigns. Meanwhile, the quiet tank in the corner might hold something just as at risk, with a story most visitors will never hear. At an aquarium built around conservation through education, that's a missed opportunity.
Electric City Aquarium & Reptile Den, a zoo and aquarium in Scranton, PA, home to exotic mammals, birds, reptiles, sharks, and fish, needed a way to put every species on equal footing, letting curiosity, not name recognition, decide what a guest learns about next, and connecting that curiosity to the facility's own breeding work to bolster wild populations.
Conservation messaging usually gravitates toward the same handful of species, the ones with the spotlight, the plush toys, the campaigns. Meanwhile, the quiet tank in the corner might hold something just as at risk, with a story most visitors will never hear. At an aquarium built around conservation through education, that's a missed opportunity.
Electric City Aquarium & Reptile Den, a zoo and aquarium in Scranton, PA, home to exotic mammals, birds, reptiles, sharks, and fish, needed a way to put every species on equal footing, letting curiosity, not name recognition, decide what a guest learns about next, and connecting that curiosity to the facility's own breeding work to bolster wild populations.
Conservation messaging usually gravitates toward the same handful of species, the ones with the spotlight, the plush toys, the campaigns. Meanwhile, the quiet tank in the corner might hold something just as at risk, with a story most visitors will never hear. At an aquarium built around conservation through education, that's a missed opportunity.
Electric City Aquarium & Reptile Den, a zoo and aquarium in Scranton, PA, home to exotic mammals, birds, reptiles, sharks, and fish, needed a way to put every species on equal footing, letting curiosity, not name recognition, decide what a guest learns about next, and connecting that curiosity to the facility's own breeding work to bolster wild populations.
This kiosk experience does exactly that: guests can tap any species on a map and instantly get its conservation status, its threats in the wild, a photo, and a fun fact. It works offline, needs no staff to run, and is built to grow with every new animal the facility adds.
This kiosk experience does exactly that: guests can tap any species on a map and instantly get its conservation status, its threats in the wild, a photo, and a fun fact. It works offline, needs no staff to run, and is built to grow with every new animal the facility adds.
This kiosk experience does exactly that: guests can tap any species on a map and instantly get its conservation status, its threats in the wild, a photo, and a fun fact. It works offline, needs no staff to run, and is built to grow with every new animal the facility adds.
This was built as part of a TripleTen team hackathon, where cross-functional teams of software engineering, UX/UI, and QA students partnered with a real client and worked through a full product development cycle together. I prototyped the kiosk in Figma at 1920x1080, and the project won first place.
This was built as part of a TripleTen team hackathon, where cross-functional teams of software engineering, UX/UI, and QA students partnered with a real client and worked through a full product development cycle together. I prototyped the kiosk in Figma at 1920x1080, and the project won first place.
This was built as part of a TripleTen team hackathon, where cross-functional teams of software engineering, UX/UI, and QA students partnered with a real client and worked through a full product development cycle together. I prototyped the kiosk in Figma at 1920x1080, and the project won first place.
The Challenge
The Challenge
The Challenge
Aquariums and similar attractions draw a wide range of visitors: kids on a school trip, parents, retirees, first-time guests, often at the same time. A kiosk experience needed to work for all of them, roughly ages 5 to 60, without a learning curve or assistance from staff. It also had to hold up physically in the space: aquariums are typically dim, to keep the animals comfortable and the tanks visible, so the interface needed to read clearly against a darker ambient environment.
Aquariums and similar attractions draw a wide range of visitors: kids on a school trip, parents, retirees, first-time guests, often at the same time. A kiosk experience needed to work for all of them, roughly ages 5 to 60, without a learning curve or assistance from staff. It also had to hold up physically in the space: aquariums are typically dim, to keep the animals comfortable and the tanks visible, so the interface needed to read clearly against a darker ambient environment.
Aquariums and similar attractions draw a wide range of visitors: kids on a school trip, parents, retirees, first-time guests, often at the same time. A kiosk experience needed to work for all of them, roughly ages 5 to 60, without a learning curve or assistance from staff. It also had to hold up physically in the space: aquariums are typically dim, to keep the animals comfortable and the tanks visible, so the interface needed to read clearly against a darker ambient environment.
The client also had a specific content challenge: conservation messaging tends to gravitate toward a handful of "charismatic" species, but Electric City wanted guests to walk away understanding conservation status across all of their animals, mammals, birds, reptiles, sharks, and fish alike, and to connect that to the facility's own conservation and breeding work.
The client also had a specific content challenge: conservation messaging tends to gravitate toward a handful of "charismatic" species, but Electric City wanted guests to walk away understanding conservation status across all of their animals, mammals, birds, reptiles, sharks, and fish alike, and to connect that to the facility's own conservation and breeding work.
The client also had a specific content challenge: conservation messaging tends to gravitate toward a handful of "charismatic" species, but Electric City wanted guests to walk away understanding conservation status across all of their animals, mammals, birds, reptiles, sharks, and fish alike, and to connect that to the facility's own conservation and breeding work.
The core problem: how do visitors find their way around the aquarium, select a species that interests them, and come away understanding its conservation status and the threats it faces in the wild, independently and intuitively?
The core problem: how do visitors find their way around the aquarium, select a species that interests them, and come away understanding its conservation status and the threats it faces in the wild, independently and intuitively?
The core problem: how do visitors find their way around the aquarium, select a species that interests them, and come away understanding its conservation status and the threats it faces in the wild, independently and intuitively?
Process
Process
Process
Research and Competitive Analysis
Research and Competitive Analysis
Research and Competitive Analysis
We started by researching how similar institutions solve wayfinding and information delivery, looking at what worked (and didn't) in comparable kiosk and exhibit-guide experiences before sketching anything.
We started by researching how similar institutions solve wayfinding and information delivery, looking at what worked (and didn't) in comparable kiosk and exhibit-guide experiences before sketching anything.
We started by researching how similar institutions solve wayfinding and information delivery, looking at what worked (and didn't) in comparable kiosk and exhibit-guide experiences before sketching anything.
User Flow Mapping
User Flow Mapping
User Flow Mapping
From there, the full user journey was mapped: Home Screen → interactive map → individual animal data screens → back to Home Screen. This flow went through several iterations as we stress-tested it against edge cases, like what happens if a visitor jumps between animals or backs out mid-flow, to keep the experience forgiving and easy to recover from.
From there, the full user journey was mapped: Home Screen → interactive map → individual animal data screens → back to Home Screen. This flow went through several iterations as we stress-tested it against edge cases, like what happens if a visitor jumps between animals or backs out mid-flow, to keep the experience forgiving and easy to recover from.
From there, the full user journey was mapped: Home Screen → interactive map → individual animal data screens → back to Home Screen. This flow went through several iterations as we stress-tested it against edge cases, like what happens if a visitor jumps between animals or backs out mid-flow, to keep the experience forgiving and easy to recover from.
Lo-fi Wireframes and Design System
Lo-fi Wireframes and Design System
Lo-fi Wireframes and Design System
With the flow validated, I moved into a lo-fi wireframe of the Home Screen and established a typography system pairing Baloo 2 (for a friendly, approachable display voice) with Work Sans (for legible body text). Because this was a team project with non-designer collaborators, I put extra care into spec consistency and writing documentation in plain language, so anyone on the team could pick up the file and understand the intent without a design background.
With the flow validated, I moved into a lo-fi wireframe of the Home Screen and established a typography system pairing Baloo 2 (for a friendly, approachable display voice) with Work Sans (for legible body text). Because this was a team project with non-designer collaborators, I put extra care into spec consistency and writing documentation in plain language, so anyone on the team could pick up the file and understand the intent without a design background.
Outcome
Outcome
Outcome
The project won the TripleTen Hackathon, and the team received a Hackathon Winner Certificate for the work. More meaningfully, Electric City Aquarium & Reptile Den expressed interest in actually implementing the kiosk in their space, turning it from a hackathon exercise into a real client validation.
The project won the TripleTen Hackathon, and the team received a Hackathon Winner Certificate for the work. More meaningfully, Electric City Aquarium & Reptile Den expressed interest in actually implementing the kiosk in their space, turning it from a hackathon exercise into a real client validation.
The project won the TripleTen Hackathon, and the team received a Hackathon Winner Certificate for the work. More meaningfully, Electric City Aquarium & Reptile Den expressed interest in actually implementing the kiosk in their space, turning it from a hackathon exercise into a real client validation.
Three teams presented independent solutions to the same brief, and the client's feedback singled ours out as the closest match to what they'd originally envisioned: the species selection, the animal cards, and the overall structure of the project. Their one critique was on color, feeling our palette leaned too "big tech" and could use more of the fun, engaging color the brief called for. That's a note I've carried into how I think about tone and color choices since.
Three teams presented independent solutions to the same brief, and the client's feedback singled ours out as the closest match to what they'd originally envisioned: the species selection, the animal cards, and the overall structure of the project. Their one critique was on color, feeling our palette leaned too "big tech" and could use more of the fun, engaging color the brief called for. That's a note I've carried into how I think about tone and color choices since.
Three teams presented independent solutions to the same brief, and the client's feedback singled ours out as the closest match to what they'd originally envisioned: the species selection, the animal cards, and the overall structure of the project. Their one critique was on color, feeling our palette leaned too "big tech" and could use more of the fun, engaging color the brief called for. That's a note I've carried into how I think about tone and color choices since.
Reflection
Reflection
Reflection
The client feedback was validating in the ways that mattered most (the concept, the flow, the info architecture) but it also surfaced a real gap: the color palette read as too corporate for a space meant to feel fun and exploratory for guests aged 5 to 60. With more time, I'd push the visual design further into a livelier, more playful palette while keeping the low-light legibility that drove the original choices, and would want to test that balance with actual visitors on-site.
The client feedback was validating in the ways that mattered most (the concept, the flow, the info architecture) but it also surfaced a real gap: the color palette read as too corporate for a space meant to feel fun and exploratory for guests aged 5 to 60. With more time, I'd push the visual design further into a livelier, more playful palette while keeping the low-light legibility that drove the original choices, and would want to test that balance with actual visitors on-site.
The client feedback was validating in the ways that mattered most (the concept, the flow, the info architecture) but it also surfaced a real gap: the color palette read as too corporate for a space meant to feel fun and exploratory for guests aged 5 to 60. With more time, I'd push the visual design further into a livelier, more playful palette while keeping the low-light legibility that drove the original choices, and would want to test that balance with actual visitors on-site.