AquaQuest: Gamified Aquarium Journey
[UX Design, Mobile App]
Description
An interactive aquarium experience that turns exhibit exploration into a game. Visitors receive an “aquatic egg,” complete challenges across exhibits to hatch a sea animal, and leave with a personalized collectible card that extends learning and conservation awareness beyond the visit.
My Role
UX Designer · UX Researcher · UI Designer
Team
Vincent Zhang, Christy Lee, Eugene Zhu, Winkie Ng, Chen Yi Nie
Timeline
7-week client-based project
Context
After the 2017 cetacean ban, the Vancouver Aquarium faced a decline in visitor appeal and attendance, especially among younger audiences.
Core problem
The on-site experience relies heavily on passive exhibit viewing, making it harder to sustain attention, emotional engagement, and repeat visitation for kids and young families.
How might we
How might the Vancouver Aquarium maintain its appeal as an entertainment anchor and increase attendance among younger audiences by making the visit
Experience Walkthrough
A scenario video was created to demonstrate the full AquaQuest experience, from entering the aquarium to tapping NFC points, collecting animals, and using the app as part of the museum journey. The video helped communicate how the mobile prototype connects physical exploration with digital interaction and playful learning.
Key Experiences Features
Designed the journey to begin with an aquatic egg, creating a small moment of surprise before visitors enter the exhibit. The gift mechanic gives visitors a reason to feel curious, name their future animal, and stay emotionally connected to the experience from the start.
Introduced difficulty levels so visitors with different ages, knowledge levels, and confidence can start the journey at a comfortable point. Higher levels provide fewer hints and unlock rarer eggs, creating a sense of challenge without excluding first time visitors.
Visitors tap their phone on an NFC sticker placed beside the exhibit to trigger a hatching animation and reveal a collectible sea animal. The interaction turns exhibit learning into a playful reward and encourages continued exploration throughout the museum.
AI generated mockup created with ChatGPT. The image visualizes how an NFC sticker could be placed beside the exhibit glass to guide visitors into the hatching interaction.
Hatching animation triggered after visitors tap their phone at the exhibit, revealing a collectible sea animal as a reward for participation.
Added a customization feature that lets visitors personalize their hatched sea animal through drawing, colour, and pattern choices. This gives children a sense of ownership and transforms the animal from a generic reward into something they helped create.
Designed an NFC based release moment where visitors hold their device near a tag to send their customized animal into the Teck Connections Gallery. This connects the digital interaction to the physical aquarium space and turns the final step into a shared exhibition moment.
After release, visitors can see their hatched animal appear in the gallery environment alongside other sea creatures. This bridges the mobile journey with the physical space and helps the digital animal feel like part of the aquarium experience.
Created printable collectible cards as a take home artifact from the journey. Each card includes the visitor’s hatched animal, basic species information, and a QR code that lets them continue the experience after leaving the aquarium.
Extended the journey beyond the visit by allowing visitors to care for their released animal in a virtual tank. The app keeps conservation details, habitat information, and animal attributes accessible, turning a one time visit into an ongoing learning experience.
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