Australian Sports Museum NFC sweatband

When the Australian Sports Museum decided to refresh their public galleries, their aim was to reveal a new, whole-of-museum digital experience that combined many different and interactive experiences for their visitors. 

Following significant consultation between the Museum team and Art Processors, the agreed approach saw Art Processors integrate technology unobtrusively across the museum — from wearable NFC sweatbands that interact with digital consoles throughout the space, to a post-visit experience that extends the visitor’s journey beyond the walls of the museum. 

The solution has helped bring Australia’s greatest sporting stories to life in a way that all visitors can connect with, regardless of their age, background or personal interest in sport.

 

Challenge

The Australian Sports Museum shares a spectrum of sporting stories—from the grassroots through to the elite, the light-hearted through to the thought-provoking. The museum team wanted to connect visitors with these stories in a meaningful way, while at the same time animating the Museum’s personality beyond the physical space. They wanted the digital displays and interactives to be more than an information source—becoming avenues to encourage discovery and personal connection, broadening the voices and perspectives represented in the museum and building lasting relationships with visitors.

Approach

We created an end-to-end museum experience that combines digital magic and interactive storytelling with the sporting themes of competition and teamwork in a playful way. We designed digital consoles that talk to and complement the physical displays and other interactive elements, including opinion polls and educational quizzes, and provide rich media and NFC interactivity. NFC-enabled sweatbands encourage visitors to collect and share elements of their visit, including photos, poll and quiz results and interactive gallery scores. We created a unique website connecting to this technology through which visitors can view and share their experience after they leave the museum.

Solution

The consoles and NFC sweatbands bring to life the stories inside the museum, almost entirely replacing traditional printed information labels. These opportunities for interaction add a layer of playfulness, discovery and connection to the storytelling experience, working in collaboration with the whole digital ecosystem. The post-visit elements help the museum build lasting relationships with visitors and encourage repeat visitation.