RESEARCH

Narrowing the scope of our project was important when deciding on factors such as our user group, form factor, and overall project. We spent some time as a group deciding on whether our project should be focused on museum visitors or museum curators and what both of those would look like in the outline of this class.

Interviews

We conducted interviews with adult museum visitors (above the age of 21) to better understand the desires and goals people experience during museum visits. We created a list of questions to ask our interviewees in a semi-structured interview. After we transcribed all of our interviews, we took away key insights to better understand our problem statement and project description.

We first did preliminary research in our user group to see if there were concrete pain points that were felt by a diversity of people. We looked into problems that are current in the system to see if there was room for a solution.

This lead us to look further into other products and systems that could be in current use to solve similar problems of museum engagement. We wanted to better understand existing solutions and how they work in the context of our users.

Takeaways

From our interviews, some of our key insights included:

  • Context and background information about an artwork are often important to visitors fully appreciating art museums
  • Close proximity to the primary source material of an exhibit seems to impart a more lasting emotional impression
  • In order to understand context of art and to gain an appreciation for artists, it’s better to physically engage with art and materials
  • Art is more interesting and engaging when it builds off of other pieces and artists and is presented as a collection of information rather than a stand alone
  • One of the positive aspects of an experience at an art museum includes getting to understand the art, whether that is through a friend’s explanations or from a museum employee’s interpretation.
  • Having a personal connection to the artist enhances the experience and understanding of the piece of art
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Competitive Analysis

After learning about pain points from our user research, we did more follow up research. Our Competitive Analysis allowed us as designers to look into different existing solutions to the problem we’re looking to solve and understand why they are and are not suited for our problem statement. We all looked into different apps and products to better understand how other museums have worked to engage users whether it be through the Nintendo DS, an interactive pen, or the exhibits themselves. We then built upon this information through our observations.

Takeaways

From our competitive analysis, we learned that:

  • There is a lack of physical interaction in art museums
  • There are lots of apps for phone
  • Most of the apps are not consistent with museum information
  • The products often promote exploring museum virtually through app
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Observations

As a team, we set aside a Saturday afternoon to visit the Seattle Art Museum to observe visitors as they went throughout the museum in groups or by themselves. After using the fly-on-the-wall observation method, we proceeded to speak to a volunteer of the museum about her experiences with visitors and the museum.

Takeaways

From our observations, we learned that:

  • Visitors often interact and speak with people in their groups
  • Visitors like explaining interesting art pieces to one another
  • There are classes and tours offered at the museum
  • People often talk quietly to each other
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Annie, Alli, and Vishaka walking to the Seattle Art Museum.
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Vishaka and Annie sitting and observing visitors in the Seattle Art Museum.
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Alli sitting and taking notes in the Seattle Art Museum.
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