Enterreno
Web Interaction
& Visual Design
Info
Year: 2017
Location: Santiago, Chile
-
Skills & Tools
User Flow
UX/UI
Visual Design & Branding
Usability Testing
-
Team
Felipe Bengoa, Nicolás Fernández, Jorge
Valdebenito, Begoña Taladriz
About
Although Chile has a rich culture and history, there is a general lack of knowledge about our past, our roots and, therefore, our identity. In the same way, day by day we see how the city and landscapes are transformed, leaving in oblivion sites of historical value. Enterreno was born in 2015 with the intention of building the largest free and collaborative Historical Archive in the world, to take care of our historical identity. Today, it stores more than 85,000 geo-referenced historical images, which were previously part of other public or private archives, physical albums or family heritage, hidden for most people.
Awards:
-
2018: National Innovation Award: Culture and Education.
-
2018: Monument Conservation Award. Unesco, Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage (Chile) and the National Monuments Council (Chile).
-
2016: ASECH Entrepreneur of the Year.
The Problem
If we talk about official historical records, only the Government has dozens of institutions under its charge that archive thousands of documents and photographs. That led us to review the following problems:
-
Compilation: having so many institutions with thousands of scattered photographs and documents, registration becomes too difficult and becomes worse when it comes to private archives.
-
Format: the photographs and documents that can be collected and registered have an obsolete format, which makes access to the general public difficult. This ends up gradually minimizing the historical knowledge of citizenship, expiring interest in their culture and having a lower incentive to know and generate cultural identity.
The Challenge
We believe that the unification of the registry and the updating of content to contemporary platforms would allow easier access and a greater interest of people to know our past and our history.
Content architecture and User Flow
Through several discussions with the team and the mentors, a main interaction was chosen to focus the work. In that sense, the "Explore" function was the first one designed and the one that received the most attention during the design phase. After that decision, the first step was the structuring of the content, to ensure a smooth user flow while browsing the archive.
One of the main objectives that the team had established was to make the content interactive, so we established 3 possible ways to navigate historical images:
-
By image (gallery)
-
By georeference (map)
-
Gallery and map combination.
Prototyping and Testing
After designing the first wireframes, an InVision prototype was set to test it with real users. We realized that sizes (fonts, buttons, images) should be increased, since many potential users (older people, for example) may have vision problems. In addition to that, usability tests showed us that the interaction with the map had more to offer the user, than just georeference the images: it showed a contrast between the actual place and the historical image, and it was interesting because it evidenced the transformation in time. It also put the image in context, and many users were very excited about the "manual" discovery of the territory; that is, by dragging the map to find new historical places.
Building the Platform
Once the main interaction was well defined, the "Upload" section remained, so we designed user flows and created 2 UI options: a normal and a compact one, and tested them with A / B testing. After that, we set up a visual design system for the web, and the interfaces of all sections were built. We define a home page that directs the user straight to the "Explore" section, through a shortcut. In addition, a "About us" and "Contact" section was designed.
Achievements, awards and recognitions
-
2018: Winner of Monument Conservation Award. Unesco, Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage (Chile) and the National Monuments Council (Chile).
-
2018: Winner of National Innovation Award, Category Culture and Education.
-
2017: "Demand Solutions" finalist. Call led by BID, that brings together the 20 most disruptive startups in Latin America and the Caribbean.
-
2016: Winner of Entrepreneurship of the Year Award, ASECH.
-
2016: Selected as 1 of the "100 Young Leaders". "El Sábado" Magazine, Chile.
