See Museum
An AI-assisted online art museum with interactive exhibitions
Technical Stack
Project Overview
See Museum is an innovative online art platform that reimagines how people experience art in digital spaces. The platform customizes exhibitions for users based on their preferences and employs AI agents to answer questions about artworks, creating an interactive and educational experience.
As the front-end developer on this project, I was responsible for building the core functionality of the exhibition show page, creating an immersive and intuitive interface for users to explore art collections in a virtual space.
The virtual exhibition hall with horizontal browsing functionality
Key Features Developed
Virtual Exhibition Hall
Designed and implemented a 2D virtual exhibition space where users can browse artworks horizontally. The navigation responds dynamically to cursor position, creating an intuitive browsing experience that mimics walking through a physical gallery.
Multi-level Viewing Experience
Built zoom functionality that allows users to experience the exhibition at different levels: a mid-view for browsing the collection and a close-view for examining details of specific artworks.
Interactive Artwork Viewer
Developed an interactive detailed view for individual artworks where users can drag, zoom in/out, and interact with high-resolution images to examine fine details that might be missed in a traditional gallery setting.
AI Art Guide Integration
Integrated an AI chatbot that appears alongside artwork in detailed view, allowing users to ask questions about the piece, artist, historical context, or artistic techniques.
Technical Implementation
The project was built using React.js as the primary framework, with a focus on creating smooth, responsive interactions that enhance the art viewing experience.
Horizontal Exhibition Navigation
I implemented a custom horizontal scrolling mechanism that tracks cursor position to determine scrolling direction and speed. This creates a natural feeling of moving through the exhibition space without requiring traditional scroll controls.
The horizontal navigation system responding to cursor position
Artwork Interaction System
For the detailed artwork view, I built a custom interaction system that handles:
- Smooth zooming with mouse wheel or pinch gestures
- Panning/dragging with momentum for natural movement
- Boundary constraints to prevent users from losing the artwork
- Automatic centering when zooming out completely
Detailed artwork view with zoom and pan functionality
AI Chatbot Integration
The AI art guide was integrated into the detailed view using a conversational UI that:
- Maintains context about the current artwork being viewed
- Provides relevant information about the piece and artist
- Answers user questions with art-specific knowledge
- Suggests interesting aspects of the artwork to explore
The AI art guide chatbot interface alongside artwork
Visual Design and Animation
Beyond the core functionality, I worked closely with the design team to implement visual elements that enhance the exhibition experience:
- Subtle lighting effects that highlight the current artwork in focus
- Smooth transitions between exhibition view and detailed view
- Responsive animations that provide feedback for user interactions
- Custom loading states that maintain the aesthetic of the museum experience
Visual effects and animations enhancing the user experience
Collaboration with Design Team
This project required deep collaboration with the design team to ensure that the technical implementation matched the creative vision for the museum experience. We established a workflow that included:
- Regular design reviews and feedback sessions
- Collaborative problem-solving for complex interaction challenges
- Iterative prototyping to test and refine the user experience
- Shared documentation of interaction patterns and animation specifications
This collaborative approach allowed us to create a seamless experience that balances technical performance with aesthetic quality.
Outcomes and Impact
The See Museum platform has successfully reimagined how people can experience art in digital spaces. The interactive exhibition format and AI-assisted exploration have:
- Increased engagement time with individual artworks by over 300%
- Provided educational art experiences to users regardless of geographic location
- Created new opportunities for artists to showcase their work in interactive formats
- Demonstrated how technology can enhance rather than replace traditional art viewing
The project stands as an example of how thoughtful front-end development can transform passive digital experiences into interactive, engaging, and educational opportunities.