The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) is a non-profit encyclopedic art museum in Seattle, Washington, that features a collection of European and American art, including paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts. It has 3 locations. The main museum is located in downtown Seattle, the Seattle Asian Art Museum is located in Volunteer Park, and the Olympic Sculpture Park is located on the waterfront.
Now, you must be wondering what the problem was.
The Seattle Art Museum wanted to update its online museum tour platform as they were facing challenges with engagement, seamless navigation, and providing an optimal in-gallery experience.
The following case study was done in collaboration with DX Center for Digital Experiences for the Seattle Art Museum.
DURATION
Feb 2024- May 2024
PROJECT TYPE
Client work
METHODS APPLIED
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Stakeholder interviews
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Literature reviews
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Field research
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Competitve analysis
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Heuristic evaluation
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Design strategy
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UX design
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Visual design
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Prototyping
TEAM MEMBERS
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Rachel Eve Ginsberg (Professor & Mentor)
Introducing our innovative online smartphone tour—a seamless wayfinding tool designed to elevate the in-gallery experience for visitors from across the globe. Whether you're a local art enthusiast, a tourist exploring the museum, or someone with accessibility needs, this intuitive guide ensures you can navigate, engage, and immerse yourself in the art effortlessly. Discover more, enjoy personalized content, and experience the museum like never before, all from the palm of your hand.
WHAT DID WE DO FOR SAM?
We created a Wayfinding tool.
BUT, WHY DID WE CREATE A WAYFINDING TOOL?
The no1. question is- Where do I start? How do I start? Everybody who works here will say a completely different answer."
- Visitor experience team
Users expressed uncertainty about how to initiate and navigate the tour.
Lacked evident integration with curatorial insights.
Accessibility emerged as a significant concern.
Some visitors exhibited reluctance to repeatedly scan QR codes.
There was a high dependency on museum staff.
Current platform challenges.
Our research revealed there were several gaps in the experience of the existing online smartphone tour.
FROM OUR RESEARCH, WE IDENTIFIED OUR...
Areas of Opportunities
Discoverability
refers to the ease with which users can find and access information, features, or resources within a platform.
Usability
involves optimizing the overall user experience by making the smartphone tour intuitive, easy to navigate, and enjoyable to use.
Continuity
refers to the coherence and seamless flow of the user experience across different interactions, pages, or stages within a platform.
"In order for a design to be successful, it must meet people’s basic needs before it can attempt to satisfy higher-level needs."
- Lidwell, Holden, and Butler, “Universal Principles of Design” (Chapter 'Hierarchy of Needs)
FROM HERE ON, WE KNEW OUR KEY GUIDING QUESTION WAS...
How might we enhance the functionality of the smartphone tour to elevate the current experience and provide additional value to museum visitors?
SO, WHAT DID WE DO NEXT?
We began strategizing.
After confirming the project requirement with the stakeholders to proceed with developing ‘A Wayfinding Tool‘, we prioritized Functionality, Reliability, and Usability as the three most important aspects as the guiding principles
Product Architecture
WHAT FEATURES WILL THIS TOOL HAVE?
We created this product architecture diagram to visualize our proposed structure and organization of the smartphone tour platform. By creating this diagram, we understood how different components and features are interconnected and how information flows within the system, enabling us to identify points of interaction and design a more intuitive and user-friendly experience.
PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER.
Our Solution
Onboarding
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Addressing the discoverability issue, onboarding screens were developed to help new visitors understand the functionality of the smartphone tour.
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The onboarding is accompanied by guided tips to introduce the new functionalities and develop familiarity, increasing user engagement in the following dimensions.
Evoking exploration.
Save your favourite artwork
Map view
Select artwork to identify and move around the exhibition
Catalogue view: Keeping in mind we are visual beings, we decided to take an image forward approach for easier identification of art pieces when strolling through the gallery.
The audio player is designed to resemble the UI of the music player to establish familiarity, and related objects from the same exhibition are shown as suggested.
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Few accessibility features, such as verbal descriptions for low vision and transcripts, are included to provide similar experiences for all.
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This helped incorporate accessibility considerations (like customizing font size) and made the smartphone tool more intuitive and accessible, improving its overall usability.
Listen as you go.
The audio player is designed to resemble the UI of the music player to establish familiarity, and related objects from the same exhibition are shown as suggested.
Accessibility
-
Few accessibility features, such as verbal descriptions for low vision and transcripts, are included to provide similar experiences for all.
-
This helped incorporate accessibility considerations (like customizing font size) and made the smartphone tool more intuitive and accessible, improving its overall usability.
If we had more time...
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Prioritize Tech Feasibility: Recognizing the importance of feasibility checks throughout the design phase, we would allocate more time to assess the technical feasibility of each design concept thoroughly.
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User Testing: Understanding the significance of user feedback in refining design solutions, we would prioritize conducting user testing sessions with actual visitors of the Seattle Art Museum.
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Expand Museum Terminology Research: Acknowledging the importance of clear and accurate communication, especially in a specialized context like a museum, we would dedicate more time to researching museum terminology and jargon.
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Enhance Accessibility Research: We would conduct additional research on advanced accessibility considerations being implemented in the current museum landscape.
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Create a UI style guide: To ensure cohesiveness and establish brand identity across the tool.
Reflections
During the project’s tenure, the team had its ups and downs. We often came to a standstill, not knowing the way forward and trying to make sense of the data we had gathered during research. However, overall, the experience was truly rewarding, as we were able to present and pitch to SAM a product that will truly create an impact.
Appendix
Timeline & Methodology
If you're interested in knowing how we went about our project over 3 months, take a look at our approach below.
Week of Feb 19
Research
(Competitive, SAM tour Audit, Literature Review, Field Research, Stakeholder Interviews)
Week of Feb 26
Research + Key Insights
.
Week of Mar 4
Strategic Direction + Creative Brief
.
Week of Apr 1
Low-Fidelity Wireframing
.
Week of Apr 8
Visual Design
.
Week of Apr 15
Prototyping
.
Week of Apr 22
Prepare Final Deliverables
.
Navigation
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We established continuity by crafting a user-friendly navigation that consisted of Home, Lookup, and Info as the three main categories for exploring the smartphone tour.
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The content of each screen was designed to assist the user in exploring the museum.
-
The primary flow for exhibition exploration was Home, whereas Lookup enabled searching, and Info provided additional information.
Before
After
CURRENT PLATFORM CHALLENGES
Our researched revealed that there were several gaps in the experience of the existing online smartphone tour such as-
-
Users expressed uncertainty about how to initiate and navigate the tour.
-
Lacked evident integration with curatorial insights
-
Accessibility emerged as a significant concern
-
Some visitors exhibited reluctance to scan QR codes repeatedly.
-
There was a high dependency on museum staff
FROM OUR RESEARCH, WE IDENTIFIED OUR...
Areas of opportunities
DISCOVERABILITY
refers to the ease with which users can find and access information, features or resources within a platform.
CONTINUITY
refers to the coherence and seamless flow of the user experience across different interactions, pages, or stages within a platform.
USABILITY
involves optimizing the overall user experience by making the smartphone tour intuitive, easy to navigate and enjoyable to use.
“In order for a design to be successful, it must meet people’s basic needs before it can attempt to satisy higher level needs”
- Lidwell, Holden, and Bultler, “Universal Principles of Design” (Chapter ‘Hierarchy of Needs’)
FROM HERE ON WE KNEW OUR KEY GUIDING QUESTION WAS..
How might we enhance the functionality of the smartphone tour to elevate the current experience and provide additional value to museum visitors?
SO WHAT DID WE DO NEXT?
We began strategizing.
After confirming the project requirements with the stakeholders to proceed with developing ‘A Wayfinding Tool’, we prioritized functionality, reliability, and usability as the three most important aspects as the guiding principles.
WHAT FEATURES WILL THIS TOOL HAVE?
Product architecture
We created this product architecture diagram to visualize our proposed structure and organization of the smartphone tour platform. By creating this diagram, we understood how different components and features are interconnected and how information flows within the system, enabling us to identify points of interaction and design a more intuitive and user-friendly experience.
PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER.
Our solution.
Listen as you go.
The audio player is designed to resemble the UI of the music player to establish familiarity, and related objects from the same exhibition are shown as suggested.
Accessibility
-
Few accessibility features, such as verbal descriptions for low vision and transcripts, are included to provide similar experiences for all.
-
This helped incorporate accessibility considerations (like customizing font size) and made the smartphone tool more intuitive and accessible, improving its overall usability.
Onboarding
-
Addressing the discoverability issue, onboarding screens were developed to help new visitors understand the functionality of the smartphone tour.
-
The onboarding is accompanied by guided tips to introduce the new functionalities and develop familiarity, increasing user engagement in the following dimensions.
Navigation
-
We established continuity by crafting a user-friendly navigation that consisted of Home, Lookup, and Info as the three main categories for exploring the smartphone tour.
-
The content of each screen was designed to assist the user in exploring the museum.
-
The primary flow for exhibition exploration was Home, whereas Lookup enabled searching, and Info provided additional information.
Evoking exploration
Save your favorite artwork
Tap on the pin to identify the art piece and move around the exhibition.
Map view
Keeping in mind we are visual beings, we decided to take an image forward approach for easier identification of art pieces when strolling through the gallery
Catalog view
