RED THREAD
The Audio Guide for a social, personal and modern museum experience.
There are many ways to experience art and knowledge in museums. This thesis project examines a new and modernized experience to enrich the museum visit and facilitate access to exhibitions for all kinds of museum visitors.
Year
2025
Purpose
Diploma Thesis
Work
UX / UI Design
Art Direction
3D & Animation
Tools
Figma
Framer
Spline
Blender
Thesis concept
RED THREAD is a UX/UI concept of an app for a customisable, AI-powered audio guide for museums and exhibitions. Visitors would be able to experience exhibitions individually, accessibly and at their own pace, in dialogue with the objects and content.
Goals & Results
Timeframe
Goals
Challenges
Results
I acomplished all of the goals that I set for the project and it received very good feedback and grades from the professors. I consulted and received good feedback from museum curators as well.
Research
The research included museum visits, visitor interviews, analysis of existing audio guides, and a review of specialist articles on improving the museum experience. Personas from The Museum Experience Revisited by John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking, combined with interview insights, helped capture visitor perspectives. Key takeaways from the interviews include:
Emma
Emma enjoys visiting historical museums and going through exhibitions in chronological order, but she finds that it is not always easy to find her way around exhibitions.
Helin
For Helin there is a lack of information, especially for those who have little interest or not much knowledge of art.
Bruna
Bruna finds that there is too much text, which is not easy to read and does not make the context of the artworks understandable. She would like to see more visual elements to accompany them.
How it works
I designed a system for the technical functionality that would enable the app to solve the users problem and to modernize audio guides.
GPT trained for museums, fed by a CMS
RED THREAD uses a custom GPT trained on museum data and art education, then connected to each museum’s catalog through a CMS (content management system). This lets curators and staff manage exhibitions, artworks, and communication, ensuring the experience aligns with their expectations.
Location through UBW Tags
An UltraWideband tag in each room and ideally on each artwork enables precise location so users can follow personalized tours with the RED THREAD app. They can choose curated tours or create their own based on time, interests, or context. AI then suggests tailored routes and guides users with UWB positioning and spatial audio.
Support for existing OS-features:
Live activities and Dynamic Island give users quick reference points to stay immersed in the exhibition. The “Share” feature lets multiple users follow the same tour independently, while “SharePlay” enables a shared tour experience where they can exchange and hear each other’s questions, as if guided by a third person.
Process
The design process took 3 months under the direction of Prof. Janina Schmidt. During the process, respondents were asked for feedback, which was incorporated into the final design.
Branding
Typeface
Delight
#9D121E
#EDF7F6
#181925
Images
With a very simple user interface, RED THREAD modernizes, expands and improves the concept of an audio guide. The interview participants are interested in trying RED THREAD and believe that its features could improve their museum experience.
Extras
As part of the thesis, I designed posters and a magazine. The posters in the style of museum / exhibition posters. The magazine explains the entire project and process.
© 2025 Marlon Vargas - All rights reserved.