Mouthful of Dust

Mouthful of Dust was designed and developed at State Library Victoria by its new Creative Studio team. The studio is responsible for developing and producing the Library’s digital engagement projects and collaborates with internal and external professional designers. Creative Studio works at the intersection of art, design, film, interactivity and technology to help bring the Library’s collection and activities to life.

The process began with establishing an understanding of the problem. This involved discussions with users, stakeholders and subject matter experts, which led to the development of a design brief, the design requirements and the identification of key audiences. Research and ideation were undertaken to establish a range of potential design solutions. Several of the design directions were roughly prototyped and tested to understand their potential and viability.

Through this process, a design solution was established with the following key features:  web- and browser-based interactive and real-time rendered incorporating high-resolution 3D scans captured using photogrammetry a blending of interactive and cinematic modes of engagement centring on creative interpretation rather than didactic information engaging leading Australian writers to respond to the scans/objects fully responsive for desktop, tablet and mobile.

Using an agile development process, the design was continually prototyped, tested and refined through its development. The user interface was designed and prototyped in Figma, with all iconography custom-designed specifically for the project. A great deal of attention was given the details, ensuring that the web experience feels refined, responsive and seamless.

Mouthful of Dust not only achieves its desired outcomes but does so in a way that evokes mood, emotional resonance and a sense of wonder that redefines many users’ expectations of the web.

The user experience is central to the design solution. The design is highly intuitive, employing legible iconography and typography; seamlessly integrated onboarding where required; and recognisable and standardised design cues. The user can choose between active and passive modes of engagement, drawing on the visual language of cinema and the user experience of gaming.

The experience features audio descriptions, captions, screen reader optimisation, reduce motion settings, full keyboard control, alt attributes, ARIA labels, and more. Although advanced 3D technologies are employed, the experience has been carefully designed to be compliant with WCAG 2.2 AA guidelines. To ensure that Mouthful of Dust can be experienced on the widest possible range of devices and internet connections, it features a relatively small page weight of 80 to 200 MB, depending on device capability and internet speed - far less than a YouTube video of equivalent content duration.

The aesthetics of the experience have been carefully considered to be not only beautiful but purposeful. The user interface features minimal, bespoke iconography with aesthetic coherence; a monochromatic colour palette that allows the user to focus on the content; and a single classic, highly legible sans-serif typeface (Mark Simonson’s Proxima Nova). The project sets a new benchmark for immersive web experiences that employ 3D technologies to engage in meaningful storytelling, and clearly communicates the benefits of thoughtful, well-considered design.

Mouthful of Dust features a range of innovative design solutions:   Carefully weaving elements of the web, cinema, gaming and literature together to form an innovative new user experience.

Accompanying real-time rendered, high-resolution 3D scans of collection items with artistic interpretation by highly respected authors. Responding to the problematic tendency of colonial collections to perpetuate monocultural, Eurocentric ideologies, by supporting diverse Australian writers to voice pluralistic narratives and new ways of thinking. Setting 3D scans of collection items within a 3D scan of the Museum/Library, acknowledging the object’s institutional context and virtualising the experience of visiting the institution. Incorporating Gaussian splat technology, invented less than two years ago, into a multi-scene browser-based multi-narrative experience. Navigating 3D geometry using a single click/touch & drag to move along the surface, following the form of the object. (Navigating 3D geometry usually requires a 3-button mouse or gamepad with dual analogue control sticks.) The innovative solution involves generating an invisible, expanded, smoothed version of the geometry, with the camera following its surface.

The ability to travel inside 3D scans of collection items. Passive (cinematic) and active (manual) modes of interaction with digitised collection items for both guided and self-guided experiences.  Creating an online cinematic experience with a real-time rendered camera that allows the user to add their own movement on top of the pre-animated camera (‘cinema mode’ with manual override by clicking & dragging).

Mouthful of Dust is on track to achieve over 250 thousand sessions in its first year. The project will have long-lasting, positive impacts on the Victorian community, the Library and the arts & culture sector in several ways: Accessibility to key Australian historical artefacts has been substantially increased and improved for people living in rural Australia, older Australians, people with reduced mobility and some neurodivergent people with different social preferences.

The project’s extensive accessibility features and considerations gives greater access to users who are often disabled by the design of digital technologies. The project also contributes to normalising accessibility and communicates that employing leading-edge technologies does not have to be at odds with accessibility.

Research has shown that older Australians experiencing loneliness benefit greatly from online experiences, such as Mouthful of Dust, which engage in storytelling, history and new perspectives about subjects that the community has a shared interest in.

Female, First Nations, migrant and refugee users see their perspectives and voices treated as valued and significant by the State Library.  Five writers from diverse backgrounds have been actively promoted, generating new readerships of their work. The writers were given creative freedom in developing their works and were supported with higher rates of pay than recommended by NAVA, ASA and MEAA. The project’s code and research & development is being made open source, enabling other developers, creative technologists and institutions to create similar experiences that make collections more accessible.

Mouthful of Dust serves as an example of how good design and innovative thinking can untap immense potential for improved audience engagement and accessibility of collections in the GLAM sector (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums).