Attention declined during long visits
Child-cognition research and field observation both pointed to fatigue and increasingly rushed viewing.
PROJECT 02 / CASE STUDY
Palace Echo
A parent-child cultural learning system that turns a long museum visit into short, story-driven moments of discovery.
PRIMARY CONTRIBUTION
I conducted on-site family research, synthesized child and parent needs, and designed the service system, physical device, guidebook and end-to-end experience.
CURRENT OUTCOME
Concept proposal, physical device model, parent guidebook and complete UX/service design.
01PROBLEM / EVIDENCE
TARGET USERS
Children aged 6–11 and their parents visiting Beijing's Forbidden City.
Long routes, specialist interpretation and passive media make children lose attention while parents struggle to turn cultural relics into a shared learning experience.
RESEARCH EVIDENCEPRODUCT JUDGMENTFEATURE DECISION
01
Children showed little interest in text or audio explanations and struggled to understand artifacts in depth.
Replace abstract interpretation with concrete, multisensory stories.
Handheld story interactions with sound, animation and alternative endings.
02
Attention declined after 20–30 minutes and families became tired along the long central route.
Break the journey into achievable local goals every 10–15 minutes.
Fresh Points, route milestones and immediate rewards.
03
Parents wanted learning and interaction but lacked the historical knowledge to explain specialist signs.
Give parents a supporting role instead of making them the sole guide.
A guidebook with story context, prompts and questions.
04
Children remembered attractive forms but quickly forgot the meaning behind the artifacts.
Make exploration and recall visible across the whole visit.
Points, badges, souvenirs and an online journey record.
CONTEXTUAL FIELD STUDY
Ten family visits revealed one shared attention gap.
As new-generation parents reshape parent-child travel, on-site observation and family interviews exposed a two-sided problem: children needed concrete, active discovery while parents needed accessible knowledge and reasons to interact.
Recurring child pain points
Passive explanations, physical fatigue and difficulty understanding artifacts in depth repeatedly appeared.
A child and parent knowledge gap
Children wanted playful discovery; parents wanted meaningful learning but lacked accessible historical support.
FAMILY INTERVIEWS · THREE REPRESENTATIVE GROUPS
Different visitors described the same breakdown.
01Mrs. Zhang & sonBeijing local · 8-year-old boy
“Parent: He always runs away impatiently when I explain the sign. Child: I have been here several times, but I can't remember much about the cultural relics.”
PRODUCT IMPLICATION
Turn sign-based interpretation into short, concrete interactions that children can actively complete.
02Mrs. Zhao, Mr. Wang & daughterShanghai visitors · 9-year-old girl
“Parent: We did not have any knowledge of history, so we toured almost independently. Child: The artifacts were unique and beautiful, but I forgot the explanation later.”
PRODUCT IMPLICATION
Support parents with simple story context while connecting attractive forms to memorable meanings.
03Mrs. Yin & daughterNanjing visitors · 10-year-old girl
“Parent: It is impossible to pay attention to every cultural relic site. Child: Later I was really tired and dizzy, so I just rushed through it.”
PRODUCT IMPLICATION
Use local goals and flexible routes to preserve attention across a physically demanding visit.
A directional on-site study with approximately ten parent-child groups at the Forbidden City; the three interviews below represent local and non-local family perspectives.
02SYSTEM / SCOPE
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
A device for discovery. A guidebook for dialogue.
CONCEPT DELIVERY STATUS
A complete personal-project concept spanning field research, a physical handheld-device model, parent guidebook, route UX, online follow-up and an operational service blueprint.
01
Rent and onboard
Children receive the device while parents receive a supporting guidebook.
SERVICE CONCEPT02
Choose a story route
Families select the palace area and cultural relic themes they want to explore.
UX DESIGNED03
Reach a Fresh Point
Location-based milestones divide the long central axis into smaller goals.
ROUTE DESIGNED04
Interact with a story
Children watch, listen and turn the physical knob to choose different endings.
DEVICE CONCEPT05
Explain together
Parents use guidebook prompts to answer questions and connect the story to history.
GUIDEBOOK DESIGNED06
Collect and continue
Points, souvenirs, badges and online records sustain memory and future exploration.
SERVICE LOOPDESIGN EVIDENCE
One experience across child, parent and service layers.
The concept translates research into a physical interaction, a parent support tool and a cross-channel journey from rental to online recall.
Audience framing
Child and parent personas capture the linked goals of playful discovery, accessible cultural knowledge and shared family interaction.
End-to-end system map
The map connects children, parents, rental, story interactions, rewards, return points and future online exploration.
Physical interaction
Sketch iterations define a child-friendly handheld form, screen, pushable control, story-selection knob and visible point feedback.
Parent support layer
The guidebook gives parents concise historical context and prompts so they can participate as co-explorers and educators.
Cross-channel operation
The blueprint aligns child and parent actions with device behavior, rental operations, location recognition, point storage and online engagement.
MVP
One story route with device rental, a Fresh Point interaction, alternative story endings, points, a parent guidebook and an end-of-visit reward.
DEFERRED
Map guidance, expanded story routes, a larger content library, online virtual tours and full on-site operations.
TECHNICAL LIMITATION
Concept feedback identified two priorities: freer map-guided exploration for children and guidebook content that feels as engaging as the device interaction.
03PROTOTYPE / TEST
CONCEPT PROTOTYPE & FEEDBACK
The concept made culture active and family-led.
PROTOTYPE DEMO
Palace Echo concept film
The film shows how a family rents the device, reaches a cultural Fresh Point, triggers an interactive story, earns points and continues the experience through parent-child explanation and online records.
Watch on YouTube ↗02.1
Story-led exploration
Five storyboard moments turn rental, discovery, interaction, explanation and rewards into one understandable family journey.
02.2Children wanted autonomy
Children valued learning through interactive stories and asked for map guidance to support freer, more independent exploration.
02.3Parents valued shared teaching
Parents said the guidebook improved their cultural knowledge and created more opportunities to interact with their children.
CONCEPT FEEDBACK
Interaction created interest; guidance created dialogue.
Children responded to story-based interaction and wanted more navigational freedom. Parents valued the guidebook as a way to build knowledge and participate as educators, while asking for its content to become as engaging as the device experience.
NEXT ITERATION
Add map guidance for independent exploration, align the guidebook's tone with the device stories and expand the Fresh Point content across additional Forbidden City routes.