Maria Economou, Hilary Young, Emilia Sosnowska
Museums increasingly recognise that emotional engagement shapes visitor experiences, yet systematic methodological frameworks for designing and evaluating digital storytelling that fosters affective connections are lacking. This paper advanced the field by presenting novel design insights and a rigorously tested evaluation framework for digital storytelling experiences that promote emotional engagement in cultural heritage settings. We examine how emotionally resonant digital narratives can enhance visitor connections with museum objects while maintaining historical accuracy. Drawing on the EMOTIVE project (2016–2019), we present two digital experiences designed for the Antonine Wall display at the University of Glasgow’s Hunterian Museum: ‘Ebutius’s Dilemma’ and ‘Views on Verecunda’s Life’. Using a mixed-methods evaluation approach combining observations, interviews, body mapping, and computer logging, we assessed how these experiences affected visitors’ emotional connections, engagement, learning and understanding, and critical reflection. Results demonstrate that character-driven storytelling incorporating universal themes (e.g. identity, duty, family) significantly enhanced visitor engagement with archaeological objects, particularly those that might otherwise be overlooked. Our findings reveal that balancing historical accuracy with emotional storytelling can benefit from transparent design strategies, co-creative development processes, and facilitated dialogue. This research makes three contributions: a transferable methodological framework for evaluating emotional engagement in digital heritage with international applicability; empirically validated design principles for emotionally engaging interpretation; and theoretically grounded evidence demonstrating how digital storytelling can bridge temporal and cultural distances in museum contexts with fragmentary material remains.