The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum is one of the most popular cultural destinations in America.

Bluecadet worked closely with the museum to plan, design and execute a range of products including a massive multi-touch wall, a native iPhone and Android mobile application, and a complete redesign of their main institutional website.

All of these products were designed as an integrated platform, allowing flexibility in how content can be curated, aggregated, and delivered.

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THE INTERACTIVE WALL

The interactive wall sits in the Museum’s entry gallery, the Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall. The Wall offers a 200-square-foot interactive surface and a preview of the objects on display.

As themes cycle on the wall, a constellation of content nodes offer various inroads into the museum’s collection and stories.

The same content management system that drives the website and the mobile applications delivers content to the wall. This allows for a range of dynamic content which can change quickly to highlight new content or respond to current events or special occasions.

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GO FLIGHT MOBILE EXPERIENCE

The GO FLIGHT mobile experience is both a best-in-class museum mobile tour and an at-home resource for aviation and space enthusiasts.

The in-museum experience uses Wi-Fi and geomagnetic location services to deliver geo-specific content based on a visitor’s location in the museum. Visitors can quickly access stories and related content about the objects near them or access a pre-defined tour based on their interest and location.

Because GO FLIGHT exists on the same platform as the Interactive Wall and website, content can be easily passed from the Wall or web to the mobile experience. Visitors identify their interests on the Wall or at home and quickly sync this content to their phone or tablet.

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THE NEW WEBSITE

The new website began with a reimagined content and editorial strategy focusing on timely and relevant content. The site takes into account the pre-, during-, post-, and non-visitation experiences. Further, the site delivers content that is more web-friendly, sticky, and shareable. 

The mobile web experience was optimized for functionality and performance. The site hosts a wide range of back-end integrations, including to their Collection Management System (TMS), allowing the Museum to push over 20,000 objects across the platform.

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PRESS

Washington Post – “Cool new gadgets and an all-night party mark the Air and Space Museum’s 40th birthday”

DCist – “Air And Space Museum’s ‘Milestones Of Flight’ Hall Fully Reopens After Two Years”