Title	CURIOSITY SELF-TEST
Brand	MERCK
Product/Service	#CATCHCURIOUS INITIATIVE
Category	A01. Interface & Navigation (UI)
Entrant	FORK UNSTABLE MEDIA Hamburg, GERMANY
Idea Creation	FORK UNSTABLE MEDIA Hamburg, GERMANY

Name	Company	Position
Paul Taggart, René Zimmermann	fischerAppelt & Fork Unstable Media	Concept
Markus Gropper	fischerAppelt & Fork Unstable Media	UX/UI Design
Paul Taggart	fischerAppelt & Fork Unstable Media	Creative Director
René Zimmermann	fischerAppelt & Fork Unstable Media	Art Direction & Graphic Design
Michael Fuchs	fischerAppelt & Fork Unstable Media	Animation
Matt Harrop	fischerAppelt & Fork Unstable Media	Design Supervision
Stefanie Voß	fischerAppelt & Fork Unstable Media	Project Management
Anika Bury	fischerAppelt & Fork Unstable Media	Account Management
Uwe Holland	fischerAppelt & Fork Unstable Media	Technical Project Management
Olaf Twesten, Frank Reitberger, Bastian Nuss	fischerAppelt & Fork Unstable Media	Programming
Markus Gropper, Paul Taggart	fischerAppelt & Fork Unstable Media	Text

The Campaign

“If science is so exciting, why must it look so dull?”. Reaffirming this key insight from Merck’s brand principles, the Curiosity Self-Test is the interactive version of a scientific survey, which formed the basis of the company’s 2016 “State of Curiosity” report. In place of a standard survey, we decided to inspire science and technology audiences by taking them on 3D journey into the Merck brand (a vibrant world of cells and shapes inspired by the forms found under the microscope). Engulfed in a rich full-screen experience, visitors could navigate their way intuitively through the feature to generate their own personal curiosity profile.

Creative Execution

The Curiosity Self-Test is a responsive WebGL feature with an HTML user-frontend to aid navigation through its 15 survey questions. The vibrant, 3D environment exposes users to the brand’s unmistakable corporate design, transforming its cells, strings, and microbes into an exciting rollercoaster ride concluding with a scientifically validated curiosity rating for all participants. A cornerstone of the brand’s curiosity initiative, the test offers users an ideal entry point to the campaign microsite by automatically curating future site content for generated curiosity profiles. Teasers leading to the test are featured on all major sections of the microsite. To achieve a valid impression of global curiosity levels, it was important to keep bounce rates low, ensuring as many users as possible answered all 15 questions. Particular attention was paid to how questions were answered. Three core input options were employed, dropdown and Likert scales (standard and slider). A fixed landscape view across all devices maximised the feature’s overall visual experience while discreet navigation elements kept user journeys both intuitive and clear. By keeping the 3D engine frame rate below 30 frames per second, we ensured the feature ran smoothly across all, WebGL optimised, devices and browsers. All text elements are fed into the test via a connected content management system. The feature is offered in seven different languages. From concept to launch, the feature took approximately 8 weeks to develop.