Problem Statement
New York has an incredible range of exhibitions that TC and Columbia students can attend for free. Despite wanting to take advantage of these informal learning opportunities and wishing to visit more museums every semester, students fail to plan and go to museums.
Qs: Why don't TC students go to as many exhibitions as they said they wish to?
Qs: How could we encourage TC students to go to more exhibitions?
User Research
In order to solve this problem, we conducted a user needs analysis survey to understand users’ museum visit habits. Based on our subjects’ responses, we figured out that our target audiences wish they could have done more museum visits. We also got to know the constraints that limit their visits and their preferences for possible solutions that could motivate them to go to museums more often.
Ideation
Based on our research results, users are more likely to go to museums when museum visits become a social event.Our App will simplify the process of organizing a visit to an exhibition by making it easier for students to choose an exhibition and invite others along.
After ideation, we decided on the following functions for the App:
- Users could initiate and invite others to join them for a museum visit.
- Users could comment on the exhibitions.
- Users could see other visitors’ comments, which will let them make decisions for visits easier.
- Users could create exhibition cards if they would like to share to the other app users about certain exhibitions.
- Users could “like” certain exhibition.
Usability Test
We conducted our usability test (Link to the Usability Test Questionnaire) among our target users (TC students). Subjects are required to answer a few questions.
Iterative Design based on Usability Test Result
Based on the feedback, we decided to make the following changes.
- Organize different exhibits with different tags
- Make the card bigger, no more mobile design
- Separate different info on the back of the card with different colors
- Think about color scheme between splash page and main page
Final Mockup
Second Usability Test -- Future directions for the App
We conducted a second usability test after the first iteration.Based on second usability test, we figured out some possible future directions for the App.
If we were to further develop this project in the future, we believe it could benefit from these functions:
- Greater search function capability
- More organization of content when large amounts of exhibition cards are generated
- Symbols to be represented on exhibition cards that are no longer being shown
- User profile page with exhibitions they liked and exhibitions they created
- People who like the exhibitions
- Links to social media so friends can post exhibitions to friends
Comparison with Competitive Project
Columbia University Arts Initiative provides info about upcoming exhibitions in a way that is not displayed in a simplified manner and is not interactive for students.
Rachel Guo | rg2891@tc.columbia.edu | 175.2683.5198