Little Canada Big Stories
By Chiedza Kaseke, Alisha Pereira, Nazifa Alam and Yijun Liu
Role: Lead UI/UX Designer and Programmer
OVERVIEW
A digital product exit experience for Little Canada, a miniature exhibition space based in Toronto Canada, that allows their visitors to engage, interact and leave their mark on Little Canada.
Timeline: January 2025 - August 2025
Tools: Figma, FigJam, Webflow, Atlist, Zapier
The Problem
The Visitors Are Leaving Unsatisfied...

Little Canada's exit experience lacked a conclusive ending. Visitor's would walk through the whole exhibition space and at the end be faced with either the exit door or the gift shop. This would leave them feeling unsatisfied.

  • Lack of an impactful conclusion
  • Less than satisfactory ending
The Solution
A Digital Map That Allows Users To Reflect, Engage and Explore.

This map of Canada allows users to:

  • Pin meaningful locations
  • Share personal notes and stories
  • View and explore a live collection of stories from others around Canada
Research
Our First Observations...

After walking through the Little Canada exhibtion space, we made several observations and identified the problem:

  • Great first impression but an underwhelming conclusion
  • Disconnect between the Public’s Perception versus reality
  • Uncertainty in the Target Market
Research
Who Are Little Canada's Visitors?
  • Age: 8-65
  • Location: Live or visiting the GTA
  • Occupation: students, working professionals
  • Class: Middle to upper class
  • Interests: Canadian culture, trains, travel, education, miniature models, unique experiences
  • Tourists, both local and abroad
  • Families (parents with children)
Case Studies
What Makes Immersive Experiences Memorable?
We looked at how other experiences successfully left lasting impressions on their visitors.

Experiences such as:

  • Invisible worlds, Natural History Museum, New York
  • Team Labs Planet, Tokyo
  • Road Trip, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose
Each of these had elements of interactivity, a form of participation, immersion and education.
Brand Design
A Visual Identity That is Welcoming, Warm and Playful While Adhering To Little Canada's Guidelines.
We developed potential brand guidelines for the website that would ultimately be the branding that we would use throughout the creation of the website and other marketing materials.
Proceeding the creation of these brand guidelines, we held a survey to gain a better understanding as to which the general public preferred Sample size: n=13
Result: Slide 1's brand guidelines were the most preferred visually
Prototyping
Creating Wire-frame Iterations That Simplify Navigation and Encourage Engagement.

We then moved on to developing the first prototype for the website. These were the user processes I focused on when developing it:

  1. Selecting a location to place a pin on the map
  2. Submitting a story that will correlate with the pin placed
  3. Exploring other pins and reading the other stories submitted
User Testing
Discovering Where Improvements Can Be Made With The First User Testing Session.
Sample size: n=7
Conducted over zoom in a group call with a group of 4 then a group of 3.
User Tasks
  1. Story submission — Select Niagara Falls, place a pin and submit a story successfully.
  2. Reviewing submitted story — Open and review submitted story on the map through the pin and exit the story.
User Feedback

Key issues and what needed to be address for the final design:


  1. Confusion around the pin - many thought that it will move and that they can place it on the map themselves
  2. Lack of back button on the screen when you're viewing the story - feels trapped
  3. Consider adding a search bar to search up the different areas within the country
  4. Legibility and UI choices were liked
Iteration After User Testing
Using The Feedback To Simplify Navigation, Create Visual Clarity and Improve The User Experience.

We selected feedback that we found relevant to what we were making. Feedback such as making the submission process shorter and on one page, making the map available both on its own page and on the submission page and allowing users to type in a specific address in Canada instead of picking a location.

Live Demo
Time For The Stakeholders To Try It Out...
Sample size: n=22
Conducted in person at Little Canada. This was a closed demo day with the staff of Little Canada in the space where the our exit project would be placed if implemented. This test was done by having a laptop projected on a large TV screen, where the staff could type and see their stories on a large screen.
User Tasks
  1. Story submission — Read the instructions, type in a title for the story, type in an alias, type in an address within Canada, type in the story they want to share, then submit the story.
  2. Reviewing previosuly submitted stories — Select the map page and review submitted story or explore the other stories previosuly submitted.
User Feedback

Key issues and what needed to be address for the final design:


  1. Input box titles caused confusion.
  2. What happens when 2 pins are in the same place.
  3. Drop down box is not visible down there when the autofill addresses appear.
  4. User's want a way to get to the map immediately after submission.
Final Product
Using The Stakeholders Input and Suggestions to Create a Fully Developed Product.

By implementing the feedback the stakeholders gave us, we were able to make sure that the product would fully represent what Little Canada is about and solve the problems that came up during the demo. Feedback such as an address autofill when users type in a location, implementing a button that takes users to the map directly and allowing users to input a name when submitting a story.

Live Presentation
Presenting A Digital Product That is Engaging, Reflective and Impactful.
From August 10th to 11th, 2025, my group showcased our finished product to the public. During this, 58 users submitted their own stories, read other submitted stories, took pictures to share with others and learned more about how we went about creating this project.
Key Takeaways
Engagement is Fundamental To Create Lasting Memories.
Overall, the stakeholders were very happy with the final product and they hope to take it forward and scale it in the future. During the demo day and industry day showcase TMU held, the feedback was very positive and we received over 70 submissions in total from the general public and Little Canada's staff members. Many were eager to share their stories, took photos of their stories on the map and shared the link to the website for others they know to participate.
Previous Project
Next Project