An on-site interactive kiosk experience that educated zoo visitors about dinosaurs and environmental conservation alongside animatronic dinosaurs.
Sandpit was brought in to create a supporting interactive experience for Melbourne Zoo's Dinos at the Zoo event. The brief called for a kiosk experience that could bring the animatronic dinosaurs to life through facts and storytelling, and connect that prehistoric history to the environmental threats facing animals today.
What needed to be built:
The project had three goals going in:
This one was genuinely fun. The animation work gave me a chance to bring real personality to the screens.
It also came at a strange and meaningful time: this was created and launched during the pandemic, and being able to leave home and work outdoors for a few days felt significant. When lockdowns started to lift, Dinos at the Zoo was one of the experiences people felt confident and safe attending.
This project was completed as part of my work with Sandpit.
Visitors arriving at the Dinos at the Zoo area were given one of two NFC lanyard cards: Junior Researcher or Researcher. Scanning either card at a booth triggered one of two experiences: Junior Researchers got a spinning wheel revealing a dinosaur fact about their diet, habitat, or physical features. Researchers received an audio story with wavegraph, connecting the dinosaur to a living animal whose environment is under threat today.
All screen design, animation, and UX was delivered to work within the technical specifications of the third-party outdoor booth hardware, including brightness, water resistance, and physical ergonomics for visitors of different heights and ages.
Screen visibility was the most significant accessibility consideration for this project. The booths were designed for outdoor use across extended periods in variable weather, so multiple rounds of brightness and contrast testing were conducted to ensure screens remained readable in full daylight. Sound was deliberately kept to a limited volume to maintain comfort for both visitors and animals in an open zoo setting. Because the kiosk hardware was built to a third-party specification, all design decisions had to work within those physical constraints, including reach and height considerations for younger visitors.
Dinos at the Zoo has since returned to multiple Zoos Victoria venues including Werribee Open Range Zoo and Healesville Sanctuary. The experience continues to run across the network, which is a quiet but clear measure of how well it holds up.
Great interactive experiences do more than entertain. They educate, inspire, and connect people to ideas that matter. If you're working on a project with a public mission, let's make sure it reaches every person who walks through your doors.
