Paleontological Museum of Florence – App and Accessibility

When culture becomes accessible: a digital guide that accompanies every visitor, no one excluded.

For the reopening of the Museum of Geology and Paleontology of the University of Florence, the University’s Museum System entrusted us with developing the official digital guide: a tool designed to accompany visitors throughout the entire exhibition route, both on site and online.

THE PROJECT

The client’s request stemmed from a specific need: to make the Museum’s heritage accessible to the widest possible audience, overcoming the linguistic, cognitive and sensory barriers that often limit the museum experience.

Accessibility is not an add-on; it is the starting point of the project, rooted in our experience in Accessible Engagement Design. For this reason, the platform’s architecture allows different types of content and formats to be uploaded and managed dynamically, each designed for a specific function: guides in LIS (Italian Sign Language) and IS (International Sign), simpler pathways for younger audiences, 3D models, educational worksheets. A single technical foundation able to organically host multiple types of output, without any of them depending on the transformation of another.

HOW IT WORKS

• Dual access: content can be reached either by freely browsing the online web app or by scanning the QR codes placed along the exhibition route in the museum.
• 3D models: three-dimensional reconstructions of the artifacts, to view them from every angle, even from a distance.
• Explanatory videos, including LIS and IS: multimedia content supporting the visit for every need.
• Simplified guides for younger visitors.
• Audio content: the tracks developed for the web app were also reused for the physical audio guides in the museum, extending the value of the project beyond the digital.

A museum that adapts to the visitor, not the other way around.

The content tells a journey through the geological and paleontological history of the region; our job was to build a digital tool capable of making it accessible in any visiting condition, inside and outside the museum halls.

The result is an ecosystem of content that goes beyond the web app itself: from audio also available on the physical audio guides to videos in LIS, each format reaches a specific audience without leaving anyone behind.

TECH STACK

• Frontend: React
• Backend: Symfony
• On-site access: QR codes placed along the museum route
• Multimedia content: 3D models and videos (provided by the client), LIS and IS videos, audio (also for the museum’s audio guides)