Family-orientated e-jigsaw

This interactive was one of several ICT initiatives commissioned by Glasgow Museums in the run up to the city's £27.9m Kelvingrove Project to refurbish the building and fill it with exciting new displays.

It was trialed at the McLellan Galleries to encourage under-fives and accompanying adults to explore paintings such as Teniers' Surgeon Treating a Peasant’s Foot and Hondius' Dogs Enraged by a swan.

These paintings are not usually associated with an under-fives audience, but the museum wanted to test the e-jigsaw concept using ‘difficult’ paintings to explore its limits and potential as an interactive for this audience.

Before creating the e-jigsaw, we researched jigsaw puzzle websites and watched children with adults interact with puzzles. As a result, we opted for four artworks with three levels of difficulty (6 piece labelled ‘easy’, 9 piece labelled ‘harder’, 15 piece labelled ‘hardest’). And, to encourage observational and investigative skills, we included a series of text and audio prompts relating to specific pieces as they are placed.

The e-jigsaw was challenging for many family groups and the paintings proved to be too dark to be of interest to the under-fives.