Interactivity: The Future of
Human Rights Foundation
Research, design, and prototype
We worked alongside Human Rights Foundation (HRF) from January through April to find creative solutions to three challenges they were facing. These “dilemmas” included consolidating their brand image, engaging with a wider, younger audience, and reevaluating their strategic communications. Our research process led us to our final idea: creating a virtual gallery space that would be used to elevate user engagement with their already-established initiative Art in Protest. After presenting the prototype to HRF, they asked us to work with them to implement the gallery space onto their website.
Final presentation of research findings and virtual gallery prototype (7:35 minutes).
Our prototype of the virtual gallery space, created using Kunstmatrix.
The space could be split up into rooms to showcase artwork from different countries.
Challenges
HRF almost exclusively posts about human rights violations. Members of our generation find it tough to digest information about the harsh realities of today’s world. The youth respond to art, so we decided to leverage HRF’s Art in Protest initiative to educate them. When we conducted user journeys through the Art in Protest website, we found that users were disengaged and felt like they were not absorbing the information presented to them. One user told us that it felt like she was “mindlessly scrolling through Instagram” in the viewing room slideshows of artwork. We see great potential in how Art in Protest can be presented to people around the world in a more engaging way while opening new doors for education on human rights. How might we combine personal agency and active learning to create an interactive experience for HRF’s viewers?
Outcomes
We created a new and improved interactive viewing gallery for Art in Protest using Kunstmatrix. This platform would allow the foundation to create a streamlined, highly detailed immersive gallery experience to captivate viewers. Artworks from this initiative would be exhibited on the walls of our virtual Mendoza Gallery, named after the founder’s mother to honor her life and commemorate the ongoing fight for human rights. Viewers would be able to “walk” through the gallery at their own pace or be guided through tours. The gallery would be organized by country, accompanied by a description outlining their current situations. Artists would each have their own wall highlighting their work. Active learning and personal agency are both incorporated into the user’s journey. It allows for a more engaging, immersive experience with the swipe of a finger, and it can be applied to all other HRF initiatives. Eventually, their entire website can evolve into an interactive virtual experience.