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National Geographic Field Journal

The National Geographic Ultimate Explorer is a fully immersive theme park experience that lets adventurers of all ages dive the deepest oceans, climb to the highest peaks, blast beyond the atmosphere and photograph the Earth’s most exotic creatures. Uncover and unlock the secrets of the natural world and record everything in your digital Field Journal, so you can build a totally personalized National Geographic story.

The park’s guests can login to their Field Journal using their RFID bracelets, check their mission progress, see achievement badges, and get inside information about how to progress through the park. I was tasked with bringing the Field Journal interface to life. Inspired by safari field guides, the Field Journal incorporates sketches, paper texture, and illustrations to give the Ultimate Explorer an authentic feel.

Responsibilities

UX and Design

Client

National Geographic

Research and UX

I started by analyzing initial park renders to understand how guests would move throughout the experience. This gave me a better understanding of when they would be interacting with the Field Journal interface. Following this research, I created streamlined user flows and wireframes that made tasks easy for park guests to complete.

Achievements

From the achievements tab, guests can see badges they’ve earned throughout the areas of the park, and see what steps they have left to complete a mission. They can also compare accomplishments with their friends, and see what level they’ve reached from their profile.

Missions

Guests complete missions as they move through the park by answering educational questions about whichever topic they’re exploring. The system prompts guests and helps to guide them throughout the park with interactive popups, all while encouraging them to continue to the next level and interact further.

Photos

For certain missions, guests need to snap pictures at camera stations. Once they’ve been taken, the photographs instantly appear in the photos tab of their Field Journal, and they can tap on each photo to get more detailed information. Guests see these photos in a scrapbook-like format for a dynamic and fun compilation of their Ultimate Explorer experience.