Sea Lion Skull Wall

Client:
The California Academy of Sciences museum

San Francisco, CA

2018

As part of the Giants of Land and Sea exhibit this touchscreen to explore the installation of 200 sea lion skulls on the wall above the kiosk. Content about each specimen and includes videos and a game.

For this interactive, visitors can explore images, 3D models, information about key specimens mounted on the wall. Secondary content is a series of videos about conservation and the collector.

In situ

The kiosk was installed far enough back to experience the entire skull wall and the touchscreen allowed for a much closer look at the specimens.

Key Screens

1. Home Screen 1. This is the primary view of the interactive, emphasizing the grid of skull specimens.
2. Home Screen 2 This secondary view, emphasizes video content, and stories about collecting that relate to the larger exhibit message.
3. Detail view of a specimen. This example is from the “Noteworthy Skulls” group. The location of this specimen is indicated on the interactive grid above. Visitors can also use the L/R arrows at the bottom of the screen for discovery.
4. Beyond collection information, the interactive describes some detail about the specimen and the photo can be expanded and zoomed in on details.
5. Spot the Imposter is a small game built into the interactive. By selecting a photo the visitor is making a guess which detail photo is not from a sea lion.
6. The identity of imposter skulls is revealed. This is a sheep indicated below the grid number (top left in blue).
7. Accessed from the secondary home screen view, this collecting story includes a button to explore a skull specimen in 3D.
8. Sample view of the 3D skull viewer.
9. This video story is about the collector who donated the whole skull wall and his collection to the museum.
10. This story is about how a network of scientists working with stranded marine mammals along the California coast.