Project
Hooking visitors at the Smithsonian Museum
Challenge
Develop and evaluate a new interactive exhibition centered around the theme of democracy, aiming to inspire museum-goers to actively connect with fellow visitors, including strangers, about American civic life.
Role + Team
As User Research Lead, I worked with a XFN team of history curators and content developers in Washington DC and with exhibit developers, engineers, and UX writers in San Francisco. I planned the research, ran the studies, and managed 5 data collectors from our museum floor in SF, while also guiding testing in DC.
1 / Discovery & Professional Development
Goal + Method
Bring partners together to define project direction and prototype initial designs using concept testing.
Impact
At the project kick-off, our two teams collaboratively generated 10 exhibit ideas, leveraging research insights from past exhibitions to ensure designs catered to a diversity of user needs.
To meet our professional development goal, I shared best practices for obtaining a representative sample and recruiting participants and advised on developing a non-biased interview guide. I then ran mock user interviews using the prototypes to demonstrate the process.
2 / Research
Goals + Methods
Conduct intercept interviews and video studies to optimize the exhibits’ usability, enhance visitor engagement, and improve comprehension.
Impact
To quickly move from concept to prototype to finished exhibit, I conducted intercept interviews for 5 exhibits with over 50 participants. I produced high-level visual reports so that recommendations could be quickly incorporated into the next iteration of the instructional text and exhibit features.
The user research process I modeled significantly improved the Smithsonian's existing evaluation methods and approach.
“The Exploratorium’s fluid, iterative, development process helped us battle our deeply held desire to make things perfect before we put them out on the floor. Visitors are intrigued and engaged when they see us experimenting!”----Megan Smith, Senior Creative Developer, Smithsonian
I used videography to observe how visitors physically interacted with the activities. In one case, I observed that visitors were kneeling to access the experience. This insight led to changes in the exhibit's design to make it more accessible to all visitors.
An external study of 329 participants demonstrated that the exhibition met and exceeded its key visitor goals. 85% of visitors demonstrated civic engagement including listening to others and discussing differing perspectives.
