I teamed up with two other students to explore how a complete experience loop works and what is important within an interactive installation. The main goal was to design and build a prototype that engages all stages of the experience attract, entry, engage, exit, and extend.
We created the "Speed Challenge", an interactive running experience consisting of two physical pillars that can be placed in different environments. One pillar acts as the starting point and the other as the finish. Both pillars contain a physical button, allowing users to start the challenge and stop the timer as quickly as possible. At the finish pillar, users can see their final time and compare their result with the current high score. This competitive element encourages users to try again and improve their performance. The installation also includes a screen and sound feedback to make the experience feel more interactive and engaging. To extend the experience beyond the installation itself, we added a ticket printer inside the finish pillar that prints a physical ticket containing the user's final time and an interesting fact about athletics. This gives the user something tangible to take with them after completing the challenge and extends the experience beyond the physical installation.
The prototype combines a Raspberry Pi with two ESP32 C3 controllers, arcade buttons, a timer, LCD screen, piezo speaker and ticket printer. The software was built using C++, Python and Socket.IO to handle communication between the different components and keep the installation responsive in real time.
Working on this project taught me how important the complete experience loop is when designing an interactive installation. Instead of focusing only on the interaction itself, we designed the experience around attracting users, getting them started, keeping them engaged, providing a clear ending, and giving them a reason to remember and extend the experience after they leave.
We created the "Speed Challenge", an interactive running experience consisting of two physical pillars that can be placed in different environments. One pillar acts as the starting point and the other as the finish. Both pillars contain a physical button, allowing users to start the challenge and stop the timer as quickly as possible. At the finish pillar, users can see their final time and compare their result with the current high score. This competitive element encourages users to try again and improve their performance. The installation also includes a screen and sound feedback to make the experience feel more interactive and engaging. To extend the experience beyond the installation itself, we added a ticket printer inside the finish pillar that prints a physical ticket containing the user's final time and an interesting fact about athletics. This gives the user something tangible to take with them after completing the challenge and extends the experience beyond the physical installation.
The prototype combines a Raspberry Pi with two ESP32 C3 controllers, arcade buttons, a timer, LCD screen, piezo speaker and ticket printer. The software was built using C++, Python and Socket.IO to handle communication between the different components and keep the installation responsive in real time.
Working on this project taught me how important the complete experience loop is when designing an interactive installation. Instead of focusing only on the interaction itself, we designed the experience around attracting users, getting them started, keeping them engaged, providing a clear ending, and giving them a reason to remember and extend the experience after they leave.