THE PROBLEM
Museum audio guides generally lack interactivity and only offer one type of visit.
THE SOLUTION
Design an app for the museum that offers a range of several guided tours to users depending on their available time and their interests, and that allows users to get more information and context about any of the museum’s artworks.
RESEARCH
In order to understand the issue and challenge my assumptions, I reached out to 5 persons in my network who visit a museum at least once a year to talk about their habits, troubles, and needs regarding the topic. I chose people of varied ages, genders, level of education, and level of ease with technology.
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The findings:
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Language. Visitors come from all over the world and don't necessarily speak fluent English nor the language of the country.
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Interactivity. Regular audio guides only offer one type of visit regardless of the visitor's age, interests, available time, and cultural knowledge.
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Accessibility. Regular audio guides aren't flexible enough to accommodate various kinds of disabilities. Although museums tend to make efforts to adapt the visit, the experience isn't always optimal.
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Time. Busy tourists are often on a tight schedule but still don't want to miss out on the museum's most important pieces.
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Thanks to these insights, I created two personae:
LAURA
GOALS
Make the most of her holidays abroad
Appreciate art
FRUSTRATIONS
Audio guide explanations are often too succinct
Not finding information in one's native language can feel like missing something
Laura is a literature student and art-lover eager to discover all kinds of cultures across the world. While she has a decent level in English, it can sometimes be insufficient when traveling. During her visits to museums, she often finds herself wanting to know more about the pieces and their context. She wishes there could be a cheap way to get more out of an exhibition, ideally in her native language.
Age: 19
Hometown: Milan, IT
Family: Single
Occupation: Student
Laura is a foreign tourist and art-lover who needs to be able to take a tour of the museum in a language she masters and tailored to her interests because she wants to make the most of her visit in the little time she has.
Stéphane is a busy parent of 3 young children who needs to find local and interesting activities suited to families because he wants to spend some quality time with his loved ones.
STÉPHANE
GOALS
Spend great quality time with family
Foster curiosity and open-mindedness in his children
FRUSTRATIONS
It can be hard to find fun and varied activities suited for young children
Booking in advance requires a lot of planning which isn't always possible with a busy schedule
Stéphane is a high-school teacher, a job that requires a lot of work both at school and at home. On top of that he helps take care of the house and his 3 children. Weekends are supposed to be a breath of fresh air and as hassle-free as possible. But he also likes to make sure his children discover and learn new things while having fun. He wishes there existed interesting activities locally suited to families with young children.
Age: 44
Hometown: Nantes, FR
Family: Married, 3 children
Occupation: Teacher
Then, I used the persona "Laura" to create a user journey map.
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The goal: take a virtual guided tour of an art exhibition in her native language as a foreign tourist.
In light of this information and with the help of the personae and the user journey map, the main takeaways are:
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Ease of use. As the audio guide is destined to all visitors regardless of their age, language, and ease with technology, the interface should be as simple and straightforward as possible.
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Wealth of content. The app should feature several kinds of guided tours as well as information about the pieces and the artists themselves so that content can be customized in many different ways.
WIREFRAMING
With research done, I first planned the user flows for the future app. There are two main user flows: search a tour, and search a specific artwork, which both end at the guided tour page.
Next, I sketched paper wireframes, then continued on to digital wireframes. I made sure to keep a design as clear and uncluttered as possible from the start, so that any user regardless of their level of digital literacy could easily navigate the app in the museum’s busy environment.
According to user research, the main type of visitors are families with children, busy tourists wanting to see the most important pieces, and art-lovers wanting to dig deeper. Three main tours are presented to suit the needs of these groups.
USER TESTING
With the low-fidelity prototype, I conducted moderated usability studies with 5 participants, 3 on-site and 2 remote.
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Here are the findings:
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Unable to start. Users couldn't find the "start" button to launch the guided tour.
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Artist tour. Users didn't show an interest for the "tour by artist" option.
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Language. Users needed to select a language right at the start when launching the app.
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Keypad. Users didn't understand the purpose of the "keypad" button.
MOCKUPS
Usability studies revealed that users were confused by the “What you will see” section, and that it prevented them from easily finding the “Start” button. The section was removed to give more space to the button.
Before
After
The use of the “Keypad” button wasn’t clear to users, and they needed to select their language right at the beginning. The first page was changed to the language selection page, which then opens to the home page with a modal giving some quick information before letting users navigate the app.
First page before
First pages after
STYLE GUIDE
Main colors
#FFF9F0
#7F2122
#C18101
Secondary colors
#5C2122
#231010
#E5DBB7
Typeface
The colors were chosen to be reminiscent of what we typically associate with art museums: the soft white of marble sculptures, the dark reds of ancient terracotta, and the muted gold of the frames highlighting the pictures. The three typefaces have a distinct classic and elegant yet contemporary personality, and have good legibility. In particular, Cinzel, used for the largest titles, is inspired by ancient roman inscriptions and serves here as a nod to the city's antique roots.
CONCLUSION
Thanks to this app, users feel like they can get much more out of their visit than when using an audio guide.
One quote from user review:
“I really like the range of tours offered. Usually when I get in a museum, I’m lost!”
WHAT I LEARNED
While working on this app, I learned that no amount of thinking can replace the feedback gained during usability studies. I also learned several new functions on Figma, such as the use of overlays.
NEXT STEPS
Conduct additional research about the most frequent visitors coming to the museum to determine which languages the app should be translated into.
Add interactive content, especially for children, such as quizzes or mini games. This will help children stay engaged in the visits and the artwork, and make the visit more pleasant and fun for families.
Additional research should be conducted with users using a screen reader and users with hearing disability to ensure that the app is fully functional for these types of users.
