Museums & Memorials

Improving Access to a National Memorial

Bluecadet created an interactive website for the Lincoln Memorial, commissioned by the National Park Service. The project gave visitors everywhere a virtual yet deeply engaging experience of the memorial, emphasizing accessibility and historical reverence.

The interactive — the fullest chrome capture — FULLSCREEN · REFLECTIONS · SHOW CAPTIONS · INTRODUCTION · REFLECTIONS · PANORAMAS · ABOUT THE MEMORIAL · CREDITS · DOWNLOADS. SHOW CAPTIONS as a first-class control is an accessibility decision made visible. From the Lincoln Memorial Interactive — a touchscreen/kiosk piece whose four sections are consistent throughout: INTRODUCTION · REFLECTIONS · PANORAMAS · ABOUT THE MEMORIAL, plus CREDITS and DOWNLOADS.

Clients/Partners: National Park Service, Bluecadet
Roles: Lead Developer
Industry: Museums & Memorials
Deliverables: Development , Sketching
Recognition (Summary): Webby Awards, American Alliance of Museums, Communication Arts

Overview

01 / Problem: The National Park Service wanted people who couldn't visit the Lincoln Memorial to experience it anyway. The piece combined spherical panoramas with video and stills.
02 / Design Challenge: As Bluecadet's Lead Developer, Russ designed the interactions and built the piece, working from the visual designers' mockups.
03 / Approach: The whole interface sits inside a photograph of the March on Washington crowd, so the memorial's civil-rights meaning comes first. Panoramas carry hotspots with interpretive notes, the videos have captions, and there's an HTML fallback.
04 / Outcome: Captures of the finished piece and its hand-drawn hotspot spec survive; no visitor data does.

Process + Evidence Plates

- Fig 01 / Content Strategy
The welcome screen, and it states the whole piece in one sentence: "WELCOME TO THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL INTERACTIVE. Experience a virtual walk through of the memorial and listen to park rangers share their reflections…" Park rangers as the voice of an interpretive interactive — not a curator, not a narrator. From the Lincoln Memorial Interactive — a touchscreen/kiosk piece whose four sections are consistent throughout: INTRODUCTION · REFLECTIONS · PANORAMAS · ABOUT THE MEMORIAL, plus CREDITS and DOWNLOADS.
The welcome screen, and it states the whole piece in one sentence: "WELCOME TO THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL INTERACTIVE. Experience a virtual walk through of the memorial and listen to park rangers share their reflections…" Park rangers as the voice of an interpretive interactive — not a curator, not a narrator. From the Lincoln Memorial Interactive — a touchscreen/kiosk piece whose four sections are consistent throughout: INTRODUCTION · REFLECTIONS · PANORAMAS · ABOUT THE MEMORIAL, plus CREDITS and DOWNLOADS.
Decision: Set the whole interface inside a photograph of the March on Washington
Result: The memorial's civil-rights meaning came first, before a word of content
- Fig 02 / Accessibility Standards & Best Practices
The interactive — the fullest chrome capture — FULLSCREEN · REFLECTIONS · SHOW CAPTIONS · INTRODUCTION · REFLECTIONS · PANORAMAS · ABOUT THE MEMORIAL · CREDITS · DOWNLOADS. SHOW CAPTIONS as a first-class control is an accessibility decision made visible. From the Lincoln Memorial Interactive — a touchscreen/kiosk piece whose four sections are consistent throughout: INTRODUCTION · REFLECTIONS · PANORAMAS · ABOUT THE MEMORIAL, plus CREDITS and DOWNLOADS.
The interactive — the fullest chrome capture — FULLSCREEN · REFLECTIONS · SHOW CAPTIONS · INTRODUCTION · REFLECTIONS · PANORAMAS · ABOUT THE MEMORIAL · CREDITS · DOWNLOADS. SHOW CAPTIONS as a first-class control is an accessibility decision made visible. From the Lincoln Memorial Interactive — a touchscreen/kiosk piece whose four sections are consistent throughout: INTRODUCTION · REFLECTIONS · PANORAMAS · ABOUT THE MEMORIAL, plus CREDITS and DOWNLOADS.
Decision: Caption the videos and provide an HTML fallback
Result: People who couldn't hear the audio or run Flash could still visit
- Fig 03 / Interaction Design
The hotspot map — where in each panorama a visitor could click. The mechanism that turns a 360° photograph into an interface, and the artifact that connects the panoramas to the reflections.
The hotspot map — where in each panorama a visitor could click. The mechanism that turns a 360° photograph into an interface, and the artifact that connects the panoramas to the reflections.
Decision: Place interpretive hotspots inside the panoramas
Result: Remote visitors explored details they might miss in person
- Fig 04 / Content Strategy
The reflections index, and it is the piece's most interesting structure — named contributors each paired with a theme: GILBERT LYONS "Civil Rights" · ROBERT M. HEALY "Common Man" · TOM L. DOWNS "Lincoln Statue" · KAWTHER ELMI "Immigra[tion]". Set against the memorial's own inscriptions ("…SAVED THE UNION" · ABRAHAM LINCOLN) and the March on Washington marker ("I HAVE A DREAM" · MARTIN LUTHER KING JR · WASHINGTON · 28-1963). Individual rangers speaking to individual themes — a monument interpreted by several named people rather than one institutional voice.
The reflections index, and it is the piece's most interesting structure — named contributors each paired with a theme: GILBERT LYONS "Civil Rights" · ROBERT M. HEALY "Common Man" · TOM L. DOWNS "Lincoln Statue" · KAWTHER ELMI "Immigra[tion]". Set against the memorial's own inscriptions ("…SAVED THE UNION" · ABRAHAM LINCOLN) and the March on Washington marker ("I HAVE A DREAM" · MARTIN LUTHER KING JR · WASHINGTON · 28-1963). Individual rangers speaking to individual themes — a monument interpreted by several named people rather than one institutional voice.
Decision: Pair named rangers and contributors with themes
Result: The memorial was interpreted by people, not anonymous captions
- Fig 05 / Information Architecture
The information architecture as a hand-drawn diagram — the archive's one process artifact. Legible: REFLECTIONS · PANORAMA · REFLECTION PREVIEWS · FULL SCREEN · RANGER CAPTIONS · INTRO/ABOUT · MAIN PANORAMAS · Zoom · VIA RELATED REFLECTIONS · ENTER/EXIT FULL-SCREEN · FOCUSED PHOTO. The cross-links are the design problem: getting from a panorama to a related ranger reflection and back without losing place.
The information architecture as a hand-drawn diagram — the archive's one process artifact. Legible: REFLECTIONS · PANORAMA · REFLECTION PREVIEWS · FULL SCREEN · RANGER CAPTIONS · INTRO/ABOUT · MAIN PANORAMAS · Zoom · VIA RELATED REFLECTIONS · ENTER/EXIT FULL-SCREEN · FOCUSED PHOTO. The cross-links are the design problem: getting from a panorama to a related ranger reflection and back without losing place.
Decision: Cross-link panoramas and reflections rather than separate them
Result: Visitors could move between place and meaning freely
- Fig 06 / Content Strategy
- Fig 06 / Experience Design
The interactive — the reflections index in a second state, with the ranger/theme pairings and inscriptions visible. From the Lincoln Memorial Interactive — a touchscreen/kiosk piece whose four sections are consistent throughout: INTRODUCTION · REFLECTIONS · PANORAMAS · ABOUT THE MEMORIAL, plus CREDITS and DOWNLOADS.
The interactive — the reflections index in a second state, with the ranger/theme pairings and inscriptions visible. From the Lincoln Memorial Interactive — a touchscreen/kiosk piece whose four sections are consistent throughout: INTRODUCTION · REFLECTIONS · PANORAMAS · ABOUT THE MEMORIAL, plus CREDITS and DOWNLOADS.
Decision: Combine video, still photography and panoramas in one tour
Result: Visitors who couldn't travel to Washington got a full experience of the memorial
- Fig 07 / Experience Design
The interactive — the panorama view with its chrome — PANORAMA · EXIT · FULLSCREEN over the four-section nav. From the Lincoln Memorial Interactive — a touchscreen/kiosk piece whose four sections are consistent throughout: INTRODUCTION · REFLECTIONS · PANORAMAS · ABOUT THE MEMORIAL, plus CREDITS and DOWNLOADS.
The interactive — the panorama view with its chrome — PANORAMA · EXIT · FULLSCREEN over the four-section nav. From the Lincoln Memorial Interactive — a touchscreen/kiosk piece whose four sections are consistent throughout: INTRODUCTION · REFLECTIONS · PANORAMAS · ABOUT THE MEMORIAL, plus CREDITS and DOWNLOADS.
Decision: Shoot spherical panoramas from 21 vantage points
Result: Virtual visitors could walk around the memorial with a sense of being there
- Fig 08 / Content Strategy
The interactive — the fullest chrome capture — FULLSCREEN · REFLECTIONS · SHOW CAPTIONS · INTRODUCTION · REFLECTIONS · PANORAMAS · ABOUT THE MEMORIAL · CREDITS · DOWNLOADS. SHOW CAPTIONS as a first-class control is an accessibility decision made visible. From the Lincoln Memorial Interactive — a touchscreen/kiosk piece whose four sections are consistent throughout: INTRODUCTION · REFLECTIONS · PANORAMAS · ABOUT THE MEMORIAL, plus CREDITS and DOWNLOADS.
The interactive — the fullest chrome capture — FULLSCREEN · REFLECTIONS · SHOW CAPTIONS · INTRODUCTION · REFLECTIONS · PANORAMAS · ABOUT THE MEMORIAL · CREDITS · DOWNLOADS. SHOW CAPTIONS as a first-class control is an accessibility decision made visible. From the Lincoln Memorial Interactive — a touchscreen/kiosk piece whose four sections are consistent throughout: INTRODUCTION · REFLECTIONS · PANORAMAS · ABOUT THE MEMORIAL, plus CREDITS and DOWNLOADS.
Decision: Score the rangers' reflections with archival footage and music
Result: Personal narratives made an emotional connection to the memorial's history
- Fig 09 / Experience Design
A panorama with its interpretive caption — the REUNION MURAL: "In this [Fox] mural… artist Jules Guerin depicts the Angel of Truth rejoining North and South. The angel's wings protect the arts of Paint[ing]…" Naming Jules Guerin and reading the allegory is art-historical interpretation inside a navigation panorama.
A panorama with its interpretive caption — the REUNION MURAL: "In this [Fox] mural… artist Jules Guerin depicts the Angel of Truth rejoining North and South. The angel's wings protect the arts of Paint[ing]…" Naming Jules Guerin and reading the allegory is art-historical interpretation inside a navigation panorama.
Decision: Let the content speak instead of the technology
Result: Historical events and figures felt relatable and tangible, with no gimmicks in the way