Scan Everything

In collaboration

ECAL × Alimentarium Museum, Vevey

Year

2026

An AI museum installation — draw, scan, explore

Overview

Scan Everything is an AI-powered installation for the Alimentarium food museum. Visitors draw a fruit or vegetable on a paper card, slide it into a scanner, and an AI recognises the sketch and adds it to a shared collection everyone can explore, pairing an analog gesture with a generative digital archive. Made with Youri Zermatten.

Service

UX/UI Design

Interaction Design

AI in Design

Content

Duration

16 Weeks

The Challenge

Museum interactives are usually either too complex (friction) or too shallow to leave any personal trace. In interviews and design reviews, visitors and designers shared the same point of view: people engage most when the interaction is simple, the feedback is clear, and they feel they've contributed something. How do you make a museum moment that is instantly understandable, rewarding and personal, while bridging the physical and digital?

The Solution

One simple loop, Understand → Draw → Scan → Wait → Explore. Visitors draw by hand and scan the card; the digital layer (creative coding + AI recognition) reveals what it is and clusters every drawing into a collective, explorable archive. The tactile moments stay analog; the code handles recognition, feedback and the shared collection. We built a working high-fidelity prototype, a touchscreen table with a custom scanner box, printed cards and drawing tools.

The Result

Tested with 6 participants across 5 sessions, the friction we found became 28 prioritised, evidence-based UI changes (13 Must / 10 Should / 5 Could) — actionable key learnings each traced to a real user need. Every fix (a clearer "Touch to begin" entry, immediate scan feedback, higher contrast, a more legible collection, a new "Sign your drawing" close) is the way it is because of what people actually looked for.