How the Digital Palace Museum Mini‑Program Merges Culture, AI, and AR for Immersive Mobile Experiences

Preface

On September 16, 2019, Tencent and the Palace Museum signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly promote digitalization, cloud, and AI for cultural research and the “Digital Palace Museum” project.

The jointly created WeChat mini‑program “Digital Palace Museum” aims to let users deeply explore the museum’s cultural beauty while providing content operation, database, ticketing, and navigation functions.

Design Goals

The design tone was agreed to provide an immersive cultural experience through two aspects: simplified visual presentation and clear content classification.

1.0 Simplified Design

The Palace Museum’s vast artistic assets include architecture, sculpture, calligraphy, painting, figures, relics, and graphic design. Architecture and relics convey information most efficiently, so the design extracts colors and graphics from these elements.

The main colors chosen are “Wu‑gold” and “sunset red”, reflecting the red walls and golden tiles of the palace, with reduced saturation for a historic feel.

Icons represent three palace elements: the “San‑jiao‑liu‑wan” window pattern for discovery, the “Broken‑rainbow Bridge” for touring, and the “Jade‑pot Spring” for artifact viewing, using a line‑and‑color‑block style to indicate active states.

2.0 Clear Content Classification

The app offers multiple functional entrances on the home page, using scene‑based and associative icons to convey meaning, such as a combined Chinese window and building for “Palace Architecture”, the “Taiping Youxiang” figurine for “Tour Guide Tips”, and the “Gate of Heavenly Peace” for ticketing.

Typography uses the restrained “Han Yi New Humanist Song” font for titles and navigation to balance information efficiency and design aesthetics.

Design Reflections

Beyond meeting design goals, the team sought to create a more service‑oriented experience, delivering emotional resonance through thoughtful design.

1.0 More Immersive Design

Dark mode and noise‑reduction techniques reduce visual clutter, allowing users to focus on artifacts with pure, detailed presentation.

Multi‑dimensional scenes based on color, zodiac, and patterns let users appreciate artifacts from various perspectives.

2.0 Warmer Design for Elderly Users

To address age‑related visual decline, font sizes are set no smaller than 24 px with high contrast and low brightness values, ensuring clear hierarchy for senior users.

AI voice assistants provide auditory information to compensate for hearing loss, while larger touch targets and images improve operability.

3.0 Friendlier Design with AI Virtual Guide

Leveraging Tencent’s AI virtual‑human technology, the guide evolves from text‑only to an expressive digital mascot—a playful lion that conveys knowledge and emotion.

Eleven emotion‑driven actions were designed, emphasizing naturalness, coordination, and breathing to make animations feel alive.

4.0 More Fun Design with AR

AR technology blends the Palace’s rich heritage with interactive navigation, allowing users to discover artifacts and architecture through real‑world exploration.

AR‑enhanced real‑scene tours provide 3D models, panoramic views, and voice‑guided explanations, offering a novel, immersive experience.

5.0 More Thoughtful Design with Real‑Time Crowd Flow

Using Tencent LBS big‑data services, the app displays live crowd density at popular spots with color‑coded icons, helping visitors avoid congestion and plan routes safely.

Conclusion

Rooted in the Palace Museum’s cultural heritage, the product delivers a minimalist, immersive, friendly, and emotionally resonant experience, incorporating accessibility, senior‑friendly design, and human‑centred services.