This project aimed to re-imagine the 3-volume book "The Plan of St. Gall" as a digital multi-sensory experience. By breaking down the information as it was presented in the book, I was able to design an educational game starting with logic charts, building UX wireframes, user testing, and culminating in a fully-functional UX prototype.
An original assessment of the book content by category and type
The plan of St. Gall was intended to design a community that unified monastic and community life. The books, written by Walter Horn and Ernest Born, dissect the main sections of the plan, explaining the importance of different structures and what they can teach us about life in medieval Switzerland. The app is designed to allow users to experience aspects of everyday life at the time, through a better understanding of the architectural plan.
The app was designed to help make connections between medieval daily life and life today by making information less technical, and utilizing characters storylines to engage readers. It engages readers by layering scenic illustrations, diagrams, and photographs with descriptive texts to present a comprehensive picture of how a medieval monastic community functioned.
Using the general layout of the plan, I designed a new flow of information that could follow the physical space of St. Gall in order to inform the storyline of the game. The user is sent on a mission to explore St. Gall in search of the original document. By talking to the inhabitants of St. Gall and exploring the buildings, the reader encounters hints along the way, and gets rewarded for each fragment of the plan that is collected.
