Multimedia installations in museum galleries, as well as in other spaces, can range from just one interactive screen in a separate exhibition to a fully integrated exhibition and a technologically designed information space. The interweaving of technological possibilities with physical space opens up many possibilities as interpretive material, which complements the main exhibition.

Multimedia interpretive systems can provide a wide range of information and experiences on exhibition topics and thus significantly enrich the visitor experience.

Multimedia allows the visitor more than formatted data and textual information. It includes interactive multimedia, hypermedia, image display programs, digital video, computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality, and computer-controlled interactive screens and experiences.

Multi-touch info desks have become the standard for displaying larger amounts of interactive content in contemporary world interpretation centers and museums. The entire table surface is interactive and allows the visitor to explore the contents that interest him most with the touch of a finger.

Research has shown that multi-touch info desks have many advantages over interactive totems or video walls. The content of the video walls opens up to the entire space, while using the multi-touch info desk the visitor can maintain a certain level of privacy and view the content of interest to him in peace. Also, using the info-desk is easier for longer content exploration, as your hands don’t have to be in the air all the time.

The info desk also offers strong potential for developing a unique experience that connects the digital and physical worlds. It can contain iconic objects closely related to the theme of your museum or interpretation center, which offer an opportunity to design a new creative experience. How? For example, if your museum wants to teach visitors about an endangered frog species, there will be three frog figurines on the table. The visitor needs to arrange the frogs in the right place to unlock additional content on the info desk.

Your visitors are sure to carry their smartphone everywhere with a number of applications installed that they use every day. During a visit to your museum or interpretation centre, they will surely check the notifications on their smartphone frequently. Since smartphones have become an integral part of our daily lives, why not use them as part of your experience?

Here’s how a mobile app can become an integral part of the visitor experience at your museum or interpretation centre:

• The application offers key information at your fingertips – opening hours, nearby catering facilities, public transport information
• the app offers useful information on nearby attractions and booking accommodation
• the app can serve as a handy audio guide – since the vast majority of visitors have a smartphone, you don’t have to invest in special devices with headphones
• the application guides the user through the experience, presenting thematic routes and connecting fun educational content with specific locations
• the app provides an augmented reality experience, adding to the viewing area virtual content that revives the past or gives a new look at nature
• the app provides a gaming experience, making browsing more dynamic and stimulating
• the app offers a diary experience, allowing the visitor to record their research experience and translate it into a digital memory

After sightseeing, the visitor can keep the application on their smartphone, which provides the ability to create content that will remind the visitor of your museum and when he leaves.