What is Museum Experience Design (MXD)?

Applying UX Design Principles for a Better Visitor Experience

In today’s digital age, User Experience (UX) Design has emerged as a pivotal discipline that shapes the way we interact with technology. It goes beyond mere aesthetics and focuses on creating meaningful, intuitive, and delightful experiences for users. The same principles can be applied to the museum to optimize the visitor experience.

As a museum educator, I was attracted to UX Design because of the empathy and creativity it requires. Very similar to leading a museum visit, designing a user-friendly website or app starts and ends with the user (visitor) in mind: Why are they here and what goals do they want to achieve? What expectations or needs should be met during this interaction? What does a successful experience look like?

The more I learned about UX Design, the more parallels I saw with museum visitor services. That’s what inspired me to create a fresh, 21st-century approach that I call Museum Experience Design (MXD); instead of traditional methods of focusing all efforts on presenting the collection in a hierarchy of value, fame and/or historical significance and then (oh, yeah) inviting people in to see it almost as an after-thought, MXD flips the script by centering the museum experience around the (human) visitor’s needs, desires and expectations and then arranging the collection in a way that provides the best experience for absorbing its valuable information.

This may ruffle some feathers in the museum community. If so, GREAT.

Almost all museums have ‘education’ or ‘learning’ as part of their central mission. How can this be achieved if you’re not designing the experience with the visitors in mind? What good is having an amazing collection of art or artifacts if no one comes to see it? Or worse, they do come to the museum but they have a terrible experience? Mission failed.

So let’s explore the core principles and processes of Museum Experience Design (MXD) and understand how they contribute to the development of visitor-centric programs and services that benefit the entire institution.

Photo by Mihai Surdu on Unsplash

Principles of Museum Experience Design (MXD)

1. Visitor-Centered Design: At the heart of MXD lies the principle of placing the visitor at the center of the design process. It involves understanding the needs, goals, and behaviors of the target audience and designing experiences that cater to their needs and preferences. By empathizing with museum visitors, Museum Experience Designers ensure that the museum visit — whether on-site or online — aligns seamlessly with their expectations.
2. Holistic Approach: Many institutions suffer from siloed structures that inhibit collaboration and prevent achieving shared goals. Since education or learning is often at the heart of a museum’s mission, all departments should be involved in MXD, not only traditional visitor-facing roles like education, interpretation and visitor services. In order to create the best museum experience, interdepartmental collaboration is the key to success.
3. Simplicity and Clarity: A fundamental principle of MXD is to create experiences that are simple, intuitive, and easy to navigate. By minimizing complexity and eliminating unnecessary elements, museums can enhance usability and reduce cognitive load for visitors. Clear and concise communication through visual cues, labels, and instructions also contributes to a seamless visitor experience.
4. Consistency and Familiarity: Consistency across physical spaces and digital elements of the museum creates a sense of familiarity and improves visitor comprehension. By adhering to established design conventions and standards, MXD ensures that visitors can easily transfer their knowledge from one context to another, reducing the learning curve and enhancing overall engagement.
5. Accessibility and Inclusivity: MXD strives to create inclusive experiences that are accessible to visitors of all ages and abilities. By adhering to accessibility guidelines, such as providing alternative text for images, ensuring proper color contrast, and accommodating assistive technologies, MXD can remove barriers and ensure equal access to information and functionality for everyone.

So how do we apply these principles to redefine the museum experience? With UX Design process as a guide, here’s how to create a better visitor experience through research, content, design and testing. In keeping with MXD principles, this process begins AND ends with the visitor. What are the needs, desires and expectations of the visitor and did we fulfill them?

Photo by David Travis on Unsplash

Processes of Museum Experience Design (MXD)

1. Audience Research: The MXD process begins with extensive visitor research to gain insights into the target audience. This involves conducting interviews, surveys and observation to understand visitor behaviors, preferences and pain points. By gathering qualitative and quantitative data, we can make informed decisions throughout the design process.
2. Information Architecture: Information architecture focuses on organizing and structuring content in a way that facilitates easy navigation. Designers create diagrams to define the structure and hierarchy of information, ensuring that visitors can find what they need quickly and effortlessly.
3. Interaction Design: Interaction Design involves defining the flow and functions of the museum space. Designers create prototypes to map out the visitor journey and determine how visitors will interact with the museum space. This process enables designers to refine and optimize the visitor experience before moving on to the visual design stage.
4. Visual Design: Visual Design brings the museum experience to life by applying aesthetics, typography, color schemes, and visual elements that align with the collection and evoke the desired emotional response. It aims to create visually appealing exhibitions while maintaining usability and consistency.
5. Usability Testing: Usability testing involves observing visitors as they interact with the museum space to identify any issues or areas of improvement. Have visitors complete a short survey at the end of the exhibition or tour route to collect feedback. By analyzing visitor behavior, designers can make incremental enhancements to ensure a seamless and delightful visitor experience.

Museum Experience Design (MXD) is a multidisciplinary field that combines empathy, collaboration, research and creativity to design museum experiences that captivate and delight visitors.

That’s not to say that other roles in the museum — conservation, curatorial, exhibitions, registrar, development, publishing, security, etc — aren’t valuable. What I’d like to propose is that museum education/visitor services is equally important as those more technical specializations. Human-centered work is how all the valuable learning is transmitted.

By adopting the principles of visitor-centered design, simplicity, consistency and accessibility, and following a structured design process involving visitor research, information architecture, interaction design, visual design, usability testing and iteration, MXD creates intuitive and visitor-centric solutions that make a lasting impact for the museum.

Ultimately, the goal of MXD is to create programs and services that leave visitors with a positive and memorable experience, driving satisfaction and loyalty in order for the museum to fulfill its mission and serve its community.

Alexandra is a Museum Experience Designer who helps clients optimize visitor experiences to achieve higher engagement and better transformations for their audiences. Schedule a free discovery call HERE.