Transforming the Arts and Artists Section of MoMA's Digital Realm
My Role
Research and design recommendations
Key Collaborators
Team of 3 people
2 Months
Desktop and Mobile
Project
Usability Evaluation
Client
Museum of Modern Art
The Digital Product team at MoMA helps design experiences for people interacting with the museum physically and digitally. Their mission is to deepen people's experience of the art and to foster long-term engagement between MoMA and its audiences.
Goals
The client wanted us to examine the arts and artists section of the website and recommend ways to
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repeat engagement,
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longer engagement, and
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more page exploration on collection and learning content by conducting moderated user testing.
Client kick off
meeting
Preparation and pilot testing
Client check-ins
Moderated user testing
Analysis and prototyping
Final presentation
Impact
Increased target user influx on the website and more retention
Recommendations
Recommendation 1:
Make filters easier to understand
Problem:
Users struggle to understand what the words mean.
Solution:
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Simplify the process by making jargon easier to understand.
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Added an "i" icon providing users with an extra bit of insight into the meaning of uncataloged.
100% of interviewees expressed confusion with jargon and limitation with filter options.
" What do they mean by cataloged works?"
" I hope there are more options for me to filter artworks "
Recommendation 2:
Implement Auto-Suggestion and breadcrumbs
Problem: Elevate searching by displaying an auto-suggestion mechanism and add breadcrumb detail for better user retention
Solution:
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Added a feature of auto-suggestion along with imagery to make the page more interactive and clickable.
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Breadcrumbs help the user to keep track of where they are in the process.
50% of interviewees lacked guidance when searching and navigating through the pages.
" I had to leave the website to find the correct name of the artist! "
" There's no breadcrumbs so I don't know where I am "
Recommendation 3:
Follow a consistent Grid View
Problem: Provide alternative visual options to replace areas that are lacking imagery, thus resulting in a consistent grid view
Solution:
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Laid out the grids of the page in a more penetrable and cleaner manner.
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For the artists that didn't have a photograph,replaced either a photo of their work or a placeholder suggesting "Sorry! no image is available".
75% of interviewees found the images and layout to be inconsistent
Recommendation 4:
Create a Dynamic Page layout and presentation
Problem: Altering individual page presentation and layout of image and text to reduce vertical scrolling for an overall dynamic viewing
Solution:
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Reduced vertical scrolling by stacking the information horizontally so that the user sees only the part of the information they are interested in.
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Added a share button for the users to be able to share information that they liked with their peers and friends increasing the user inflow on the page.
100% of interviewees had a static learning experience overall
" Some have photos, some not, it's weird "
" Artists should be available in a proper grid "
" I want to see different angles "
" There is not enough going on in some of the pages "
Client kick-off, user profiles, tasks/scenario
Client Goals and Objectives
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Background: saw an increase in digital learning content during the pandemic; they wanted to expand this opportunity and invest in digital content and learning offerings for repeated engagement, longer engagement and more page views by the users.
The Collections
Artists Page
Art Terms
Intended Users Profile
Casual learners: have a lot of interests, art being one but not the main, may have heard about art in passing but may not know detailed information, generally curious about art and want to learn.
Scenario
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Go to the MoMA website and click on "Art and Artists"
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Find the art collections that MoMa has
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Look for paintings in the collection
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Pick an art piece that catches your interest and explore that page
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Go to the artists database and look for an artist of your choice
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Go to the art terms page
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Search for an art term and explore.
Create a script, and complete pilot tests, finalise test materials
Screening Questionaire, Script, Consent Form
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Formulated a consent form for the users to fill out before conducting the moderated user interviews.
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Created our moderated user testing script.
Recruitment strategies
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Clients had helped us provide a source for recruiting the target users.
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By April 19th we had about 1000+ initial outreach, 25 scheduled interviews and 8 completed interviews.
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The users had to fill out a recruitment form which then led them to select a date and time for conducting a user interview through Calendly.
Research! Research! Research!
Moderated User Testing
Interview sessions with users to follow their journey on the website in a moderated setting
8 Moderated User Sessions were conducted
Learn something new and get creative inspiration
Engage and feel connected with artwork
Understand stories, influences, and history related to artwork on a unique level
Share thoughts and interpretations with friends and other casual learners
"I feel annoyed and stupid when I don't understand the meaning behind the artwork"
Individual Research
Affinity Diagram
Severity Rating
Rating the Severity of the theme/issue on a scale of 1 (least severe) to 4 (most severe)
4 rating
3
rating
2
rating
2
rating
The domino effect honours the thoughts of our users and feelings and how they impact each other as usability themes
How Might We?
...increase the user interest in art?
...nudge users to keep learning from the website?
...make the website experience more engaging?
...make learning and exploring less time consuming?
User Journey
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Opportunity!
To take our work a step forward we redesigned the MoMA website for desktop and mobile with wireframes.
This was an outcome of personal individual research.
IMPROVED GRIDS
BIGGER IMAGES
SUGGESTIVE SEARCH
USER INVOLVEMENT
CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN ALL PAGES
The Collections Page
Artists Page
IMPROVED GRIDS
CLEAR INFORMATION
BIGGER IMAGES
KEY WORDS FOR SEARCH
USER INVOLVEMENT
CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN ALL PAGES
Art Terms Page
IMPROVED AESTHETICS
BIGGER IMAGES
SEARCH BAR
INTERACTIVITY
USER INVOLVEMENT
CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN ALL PAGES
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