
Role
UX Design, User Research, Visual Design, Usability Testing
Team
Individual Project
Tools
Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere, Rhino, V-ray
Timeline
Dec 2020 - Feb 2021
U - MUS
Empowering users Interact with museums and integrating Events, Virtual tour and other functions.
People are increasingly pursuing spiritual needs, and museums are the most representative carriers of human spiritual manifestations. Based on this demand, this Mobile App integrates most museums and art galleries in the United States, realizing registration, ticket purchase, virtual tour, store, collection and other functions.

Basic Information
Target user: Users who want to participate exhibitions in reality or virtual in American museums and art galleries.
Context of use: When users want to know relevant museum information, make an appointment or virtual interaction.
User’s goal: Convenient, fast and pleasant information query and operation.
Business goal: Realize the accumulation and connection of users, and then produce continuous and long-term cooperative relations with various museums.


Most museums have abundant exhibition activities and online resources, but the different ways of organizing information and operating procedures in each museum cause confusion for users.
Discover


Hard to keep up with current events
Because each museum has its own different event announcements and reservation procedures, it is difficult for everyone to keep abreast of all events.
Hard to keep up with current events
Because of Covid-19, traffic is restricted in many areas. The virtual tour and online resources allow users to get a glimpse of the museum without leaving home.
Interview
I interviewed eight users who frequently visit museums, and collected their opinions and feedback on current museum event announcements, appointments and participation, as well as expectations and ideas for some new features. Through information aggregation, the urgent needs and pain points of users are more clarified.

Museum Research
After sorting out the information on major museum websites, the following characteristics have been sorted out:
1. Activities currently being held and detailed introductions.
2. Ticket purchase and specific transaction procedures.
3. Classification of art works and artist introduction information.
4. Calendar, people can search for events by date.
5. Store, sell works and merchandise.
6. Online educational resources include cooperation with other institutions.

Person
As a carrier to accommodate people of different ages, identities, and occupations, museums need to take into account the specific needs and pain points of different users and conduct targeted analysis of different user groups through persona, so that the determination of App functions and workflow becomes more accurate.
1. For young users, they hope to keep abreast of the latest events in time.
2. For older users, because they have their own families and children, they hope to participate in educational and parent-child activities.



Definition
Through analysis and research, sort out related problems, challenges and solutions. Among them, the main problems include the organization of museum event information, ticket purchase and reservation procedures, online communication platform and academic resource sharing.
At the same time, the challenges faced are how to classify complex information, how to make appointments quickly, and how to attract more people to participate in exchanges and academic discussions. According to these problems, what's on, buy tickets, community and learning modules are proposed to solve them.


The integration of basic functions such as online resources, ticket purchases, and event reservations allows users to efficiently and conveniently complete the interaction with the museum.
Brainstorming
Although this App has a sufficient mass base, it still needs enough attractive features to keep users from using it repeatedly. Through the form of self-brainstorming, some new functions and organizational logic can be developed. Including the construction of the following new functional system:
1. The connection between virtual tours and the community.
2. Breakdown of Learning function and group discussion module.
3. Online shops, combined with e-commerce to sell museum souvenirs and artist works.
4. Add the choice of user character image, combined with AR, VR and other functions.

User Flow Construction Sketch
By drawing a sketch of the user flow, the basic workflow relationship is determined, and the connection of the functional areas are optimized through self-iteration.
1. Determine the first-level user interface function organization: MUS, Community, Learning, Account.
2. Determine the second level of user interface: What’s on, What’s happened, Calendar, Map, Virtual tour, Buy tickets, About museum, Store, Collection.
3. Determine the forward and return relationship of each user page.
4. Optimize the details of user flow, including payment forwarding, sending and payment interface.

User Flow Map
By drawing the user flow map, I can determine the clear process of users jumping on different pages, so that it is more convenient to modify and optimize the workflow.
1. Determine different levels of user interface division.
2. Clarify the user flow and specific operation steps within the level.
3. Determine the end of the return.

Wireframe Sketches
Determine the basic page of the concept function by drawing the wireframe sketch, complete the design of the basic page function area division, the button location concept, and the basic information description.
1. Combine the conceived functions into the specific user interface.
2. The specific layout of each page.
3. Functional area division and section format of the page.
4. The position and form of each operation button.

Wireframes
Determine the basic page of the concept function by drawing the wireframe sketch, complete the design of the basic page function area division, the button location concept, and the basic information description.
1. Determine the detailed layout frame size and position.
2. Confirm the specific user flow relationship.
3. Determine the operation steps and interface of detailed functions.


Here are prototypes! In addition to the basic functions, Community, Virtual Tour, and Collection functions have also been added to allow users to enjoy the pleasure of the museum more immersive.

Check Your Account
Account has four functional interfaces: Information, Zone, Footprint, and Character.
1. Information includes the user's basic information, including name and recipient address.
2. Zone includes photos and comments that users have posted in Community.
3. Footprint includes the integration of museums that users have visited or participated in, which is convenient for users to search and enter quickly.
4. About Character, which is convenient for users to adjust their cartoon image at any time and use this image to make a virtual tour.
Explore in Community
The community provides users with a platform to explore art, culture, technology and exhibition experience. Users can post photos and comments anytime and anywhere, communicate with other users, and discover their fellow users.


Use Calendar
The calendar integrates all museum events every day. Users can enter the events list by choosing a date. Through the information profile and thumbnails on the interface, users can select museums and events they are interested in, and make reservations, likes, and comments.
Buy Your Tickets
Buying tickets is the main purpose for many users to use the application. Users can enter the ticket purchase interface by selecting the target museum. Choose the ticket type and quantity, fill in your own information and choose the payment method to complete the purchase. Ticket information can be viewed in My order at any time.


Start Your Virtual Tour
Virtual tour provides users with a virtual 3D exhibition experience, combined with new technologies such as VR, to meet users' tour needs under the current epidemic situation. At the same time, users can set their own cartoon images, communicate with other users, take photos, etc., and can publish their own experience to the Community.
Open Collection
Collection organizes all the museum's objects and artist information, so that users can find and learn specific information about artworks and artists at any time. At the same time, with recording, users can listen to the introduction of a certain artwork at any time.


Through user test feedback, some details of the design, such as the comparison of interface colors, and the way of participation of the activity group were further optimized.
Feedback & Optimization
Through the user's actual test and feedback, the application has been further optimized and modified:


1. Modified the classification method of the second-level museum functions to concentrate the information on the same page so that users can conveniently view and select.
2. Optimized the visualization of the page to make the functional interface partition clearer.
3. The online academic resources of Learning have been optimized, and the group function has been added to facilitate users to organize study groups spontaneously.
4. The color contrast of the page was strengthened to highlight the page with functional content.

Under the impact of Covid-19, people are increasingly aware of the importance of online resources and remote participation. This App hopes to provide users whose travel is restricted by the epidemic a more free interaction process.
Reflections
Museums and art galleries are the most concentrated and pioneering carriers of human civilization. The only thing that does not change is their satisfaction with people's spiritual needs. I want to use the design of this application to provide convenient and pleasant services to users in need, while emphasizing that this generation needs to pay attention to the spiritual needs of people.