Gamification of Google Arts & Culture

Google Arts & Culture is such an incredible resource. You can virtually explore through the galleries of art museums, view artwork up close, make your own collections, search through topics, explore by color. There’s so many things you can do. Google made a fun way for people to explore through the wide functionality.

As you explore through Google Arts & Culture, you are awarded badges for trying different features. I didn’t know these badges existed until I visited a collection page by the Art Institute of Chicago. A subtle little overlay appeared in the lower left corner saying, “Congratulations! You have browsed a museum collection page.”

I unlocked the Museum Explorer badge. What a pleasant surprise! I got a badge just for visiting a collection page. This little overlay as a link to “See all badges“. A total of 10 badges can be accomplished.

What a neat way to get people to explore different features of Google Arts & Culture.

The 13 badges of Google Arts & Culture

With each badge, I give a tip and a direct link to achieve the badge.

Art Inspector

Zoom in as close as you can to an artwork or image.

» Tip: Try zooming in on the monkey in “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” by Georges Seurat

Adventurer

Travel to a new destination with Street View.

» View Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait in context at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris. Then walk around the museum’s galleries!

Art Collector

Add a piece of art to your favorites.

» Tip: You can access your favorites at: artsandculture.google.com/profile

Know it all

Answer a quiz question correctly.

» Tip: Go to the Google Arts & Culture homepage, and scroll about half way down. You’ll see a multiple choice quiz. The quiz at the time of writing this blog post is: “What does this ancient tablet record?”

Museum Explorer

Browse a museum collection page.

» Tip: Visit the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection page.

Connections Explorer

Explore artworks and images using the connections symbol.

» Tip: Visit Winslow Homer’s “Breezing Up” and click on “Explore Connections”

Bookworm

Read an immersive story (with a minimum of 5 slides) all the way to the end.

» Tip: The story “Can You Guess the Zoomed-In Artwork?” is fun.

Image Enthusiast

Spend time viewing an image.

» Tip: Spend some time viewing Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks.

Curator

Create your own user gallery using artworks and images.

Tip: View your galleries at: artsandculture.google.com/profile?tab=gl

Culture Seeker

Use the search bar to explore a new topic.

» Tip: For instance, search for city. Showing the breadth of content that Arts & Culture covers, you’ll see Grand Theft Auto appear in the results for the city search.

Chromecast

Use Chromecast to display an artwork on your TV.

Color Explorer

Use Color Explorer. Discover over 100,000 colorful artworks

» Tip: look at purple paintings.

Time Explorer

Use Time Explorer.

» Tip: Explore art from the 1980s.

Check out your badges

As you tally up a good collection of badges, you can see all your achievements at artsandculture.google.com/achievements. You can also see what badges you haven’t accomplished yet. Happy badge collecting!