Year
2022
Team/
Euodia Louis
Eve Martina Lange
Nouman Maqbool
Yuanxi Jiang
My Role/
UX Researcher Interaction Designer
Digitizing the Group Museum Experience
Enhancing Social Interactions and Storytelling in Museums
Overview
This project explores how digital technology can improve group experiences in museums. Based on the Evolution Museum in Uppsala, we designed a mobile application prototype to enhance storytelling, context-building, and social interactions within groups.
Background & Motivation
Museums play a critical role in preserving culture and education, but engaging group visitors remains a challenge. Studies show that traditional museum experiences are often designed for individual learning and lack tools and strategies to facilitate group interaction meaningfully with exhibits and interplay within the group. Our goal was to bridge this gap using digital interventions to increase engagement and create an interactive group experience.
Museum Visitor Statistics
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80% of visitors prefer interactive and immersive experiences.
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65% of group visitors find traditional museum setups restrictive for discussions.
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75% of surveyed participants stated that digital guides improved their experience.
(Sources: Sheng & Chen, 2011; Falk & Dierking, 2013)
Research & Methodology
User Research & Data Collection
To understand user needs, we employed a mixed-methods approach:
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In-depth interviews with museum staff & visitors.
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On-site observations of visitor interactions.
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Persona development & affinity diagramming to synthesize insights.
From the museum staff's perceptions:
Through literature review and interviews, we increase the understanding of the challenges and oppotunities to engage group visitors:
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Visitors engage more when content is interactive and social.
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Groups face challenges in balancing exploration and social interaction.
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A lack of context in exhibits leads to disengagement.
“We often see groups struggling to engage with the exhibits together, leading to a passive experience.” – Museum Staff Interview.
From the visitors' perceptions:
Through observation and interviews, we increase the understanding of the challenges and oppotunities to engage group visitors:
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Social Learning: Visitors prefer to discuss exhibits with peers rather than passively reading text.
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Wayfinding Issues: Many visitors struggle with navigation and contextual information gaps.
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Technology Hesitation: Some visitors are reluctant to use apps in a museum setting, fearing distraction from the real exhibits.
Affinity Diagram & PACT Analysis
Persona
Ideation & Concept Development
Our ideation process focused on generating innovative solutions that enhance group interactions in museums. 'How Might We' (HMW) questions were used to inspire ideas during brainstorming.
How Might We (HMW) Questions
We formulated key questions to guide our ideation:
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How might we develop engaging social interactions in museums?
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How might we enhance storytelling and context-building?
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How might we encourage collaborative learning through digital tools?
Brainstorming & Idea Selection
We conducted multiple brainstorming sessions:
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Braindumping: Each team member independently listed ideas before group discussion.
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Idea Prioritization: Using the MoSCoW method to categorize 'Must Have', 'Should Have', 'Could Have', and 'Won't Have' features.
Core Concept & Features
Based on our research and ideation, we defined the key features of our digital solution:
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Thematic Tours: Curated audio-visual experiences providing storytelling elements.
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Artifact Hunt: An interactive scavenger hunt encouraging group engagement.
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Group Quizzes: Knowledge-based challenges promoting discussions.
From Wireframe to High-Fidelity Prototype
Wireframing & Initial Concepts
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Low-Fidelity Wireframes: We began with sketches and wireframes in Figma to establish core navigation and layout.
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User Flow Development: Defined key interaction mechanisms, ensuring smooth transitions between features like Thematic Tours and Artifact Hunts.
High-Fidelity Prototyping & Testing
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Visual Design: Incorporated a refined UI style, color schemes, and typography inspired by museum aesthetics.
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Interactive Elements: Developed a clickable prototype to simulate real user interactions.
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User Testing Rounds: Iteratively improved usability based on direct feedback, refining navigation and engagement mechanisms.
Wireframe & Flow Design
Low-fi
User Testing & Iteration
The participants were told to think aloud when interacting with the prototype. We gathered feedback from user testing and refined our prototype in iterations.
Key Findings from Testing:
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Navigation Clarity: Some users found the initial menu confusing, leading to a more intuitive redesign.
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Engagement Levels: Users responded positively to interactive features like the Artifact Hunt, which increased group engagement.
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Accessibility Concerns: Improved font size, contrast, and touch-friendly elements based on feedback.
Improvements:
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Refined UX flow for better navigation and user guidance.
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Added visual cues to make interactive elements clearer.
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Enhanced group collaboration features to promote social learning
Try our final prototype HERE
Discussion
Based on user research, this project resulted in a high-fidelity interactive prototype for a mobile application. Increase understanding of user preference for the interface and interaction mechanism.
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Prototype Development: The prototype was built using Figma, allowing for rapid iterations and usability testing with museum visitors.
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User Testing: Conducted multiple testing rounds with the Think-Aloud method, gathered feedback to refine interaction elements.
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Future Development Considerations:
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Expanding the prototype to include more interactive elements based on visitor feedback.
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Enhancing usability by iterating on navigation and user flow for smoother engagement.
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Exploring additional content delivery methods such as audio narration or guided storytelling features.
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