History and Experience: Storytelling and Interaction Design

This paper reflects on the uses of different forms of storytelling in the design and implementation of an experience prototype for a Museum exhibition about the medieval historian Jean Froissart. Concept designs developed during interdisciplinary design workshops were captured as pastiche scenarios for further discussions. Content was created using actors who recorded readings from Froissart’s chronicles and then created dramatic or comic improvisations a round the same stories. A prototype was developed where users set levels for different kinds of content and wore a badge which enabled the system to present a personalised selection of material. The prototype was trialled with visitors to a live Froissart exhibit at the Leeds Royal Armouries. Observations and interviews were made over a three-day period and responses were overall enthusiastic. The paper argues that understandings of story are becoming central to experience centered design.