An app that tailors museum tours to visitor preferences, creating an optimal path for an efficient and enjoyable experience.
U Curate
This service lets visitors customize exhibitions to their personal preferences. The app generates an optimal path based on individual selections, ensuring a more enjoyable and efficient tour without the risk of getting lost.
Museums & Technology
Technology has changed museums, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic when many shifted to virtual platforms to display exhibitions. This shift means physical visits are no longer the only way to enjoy curated art collections. It has also sparked discussions about technology's future role in museums. The following section will briefly analyze how museums have utilized technology so far.
Headphone-based Audio Guides
It provides detailed descriptions of each work when a docent is unavailable. However, these issues were identified:
Major issues
Generic Narration
Standard audio guides do not cater to individual preferences.
Passive Experience
Visitors tend to wander passively through galleries.
Lack of Interaction
Users cannot engage with the narrator or other visitors.
Virtual Museums
The online space transcends constraints like time, distance, or physical limitations. This flexibility proved invaluable during Covid restrictions when people couldn't visit galleries in person. However, I found these issues:
Major issues
Depth Perception
3D sculptures lose their depth in 2D viewing.
Display Constraints
Computer displays may blur the texture of artworks.
Complete Replacement Concern
Museum exhibitions won't be fully replaced by virtual museums.
While working at a museum with over 10,000 annual visitors for 8 months in 2020, I conducted observations and interviews to identify common issues experienced during museum visits. Below are insights for improvement based on my findings.
What I learned as a curator
Pain points
Planning
Visitors struggle to estimate the duration of their museum tour.
Arrival
Visitors feel overwhelmed by the abundance of artworks without knowing where to start.
In the museum
Visitors tend to discuss artworks only with their companions.
After leaving
Visitors take pictures of artworks but struggle to organize and store them systematically.
Solution
Efficient Visit Planning
Estimate the time required for the museum tour.
Personalized Art Experience
Prioritize and filter artworks according to preferences.
Interactive Visitor Feedback
Establish a platform for sharing opinions.
Organized Artwork Repository
Develop a centralized storage for artwork photos and resources.
Who are our user?
I recognize the diverse range of museum visitors, each with varying levels of knowledge and distinct reasons for their visits. I categorized them into three user types, each with unique goals and levels of art literacy.
Planning
The app offers three different ways to choose artworks tailored to a user’s interests, purpose of visit, and level of artistic knowledge.
"I want to visit a current exhibition quickly."
Users can select artworks and view estimated tour times in advance when they have limited time to visit an exhibition.
Users can select artworks categorized by keywords, allowing them to efficiently appreciate specific pieces.
"I seek inspiration from oil paintings."
"I want to see well-known masterpieces."
For individuals less familiar with art, this app identifies their preferences through a series of questions. It then suggests artworks that align with their interests.
Ganerate your path
The app generates a tour path based on their likes, providing an estimated tour time to help plan museum visits.
In the Museum
Just follow the path
Visitors can easily appreciate the museum's artworks by following the navigation assistance, which is tailored to their preferred pieces.
After leaving
Even after leaving the museum, visitors can continue to engage with artworks and exhibitions by sharing their opinions in the comment sections. They can check comments on the art pieces they viewed during their visit, see other visitors' opinions, and contribute their thoughts as well.
