A Better Way To Museum
Miami Children's Museum interactive map and events display is an interactive dashboard that helps museum guests or potential guests plan their visit, explore exhibits, and view future events and museum programs.
My Role
• Managed research recruiting, interview task distributions, and user insight reports.
• Coordinated design tasks and monitoring project progress.
• Led the research team on testing metrics, user tasks, and usability reports.
The Design
Where will it be implemented?
It will live as a touchscreen display on-site at the museum and be accessible from the museum website.
How will it help the visitors?
It displays events that are happening today to help visitors to plan their visit.
Visitors can navigate through the museum using the interactive clickable map.
Visitors will also get an idea of the upcoming special events to plan their future trips.
The 360 previews of the exhibits will get the parents excited at home before their visit.
The Design Challenge
1
MICHIMU is struggling to provide a sustainable method of presenting their guests with information about their daily programming when they enter the museum. Currently, they print hundreds of daily agendas on legal-sized paper which create large amounts of paper waste.
How might we?
a. Deliver relevant information to guests in an environmentally-conscious way.
b. Increase interest in and attention to museum events, activities, and spaces within the visitor population.
2
Creating virtual spaces where they might better interact with their audience online. During the pandemic, the museum ceased operations for over a year, during which time it moved to recording videos online and interacting with its audience through Zoom meetings.
How might we?
a. Increase participation in online MiChiMu activities.
b. Discover new and relevant ways to interact with MiChiMu visitors and members before, during, and after they visit the museum in order to enhance the Miami Children’s Museum experience for guests.
User Experience Research
Who we interviewed?
We conducted ZOOM, phone, and questionnaire interviews with 14 people in total. They were 8 parents and 3 teachers in Miami, one staff member at the MICHIMU as well as staff members at the Houston Children’s Museum and World Awareness Children’s Museum.
User Insights
From the interviews, we understood the journey MiChiMu customers go through before, during, and after the visit. The overall impression of MiChiMu from customers varied. Visitors enjoy the exhibits and the in-museum experience, but there is considerable opportunity for improvement related to the website and on-site advertising of future events. This includes providing unique ways for customers to plan their visit and explore the offerings, creating a more structured experience during the visit to the museum, and providing a reason to come back to the museum.
Design Opportunities
• More engaging and tailored communication about existing exhibits and upcoming ones.
• Enhance the website experience so the user can envision their museum visit.
• Enable customers to plan their trip onsite.
• Create a better awareness of future events.
Design Evolutions
In our initial brainstorming session, we thought an HTML-based exhibit index will be helpful for the visitors to navigate the museum when they are onsite. And this same web page will also live under the MICHIMU website with an additional 360 exhibit preview feature. This way, parents who have never been to the museum can see what the museum looks like at home to get them more excited about the visit.
First Version
First Round of User Testing
9 Convenience Samples
Second Version
Second Round of User Testing
12 Participants( 9 parents and 3 teachers)
Final Version
