UX-Case Study about Consulting for the Wien Museum
How I created the concept for a new software landscape
As a UX consultant and researcher, I worked in a team with the IT management, internal services and senior curators to create the concept for the new software environment of the Wien Museum.
THE PROJECT
Client
Wien Museum
The initiative for redesigning the museum’s software environment came from IT management.
The previous system was too
labor intensive
A complete workstation on the server had to be set up for each person, even for data entry by students.
inefficient
An input mask for everyone led to an excessive number of unnecessary clicks and page loads.
stationary
Any data entry or recording of objects (e.g. for exhibitions) had to take place on site in the museum on Karlsplatz.
Market analysis
The large providers of museum software had systems with sufficient capacity and at the same time were able to guarantee customer support.
However, there were also difficulties with:
- Adaptation to the specific needs of a regional museum
- new technologies for web interfaces
- pricing
Precise specifications for the future software landscape therefore had to be worked out.
Requirement
A cost-efficient and needs-based compilation of various providers and agencies.
Assignment
Research, creation and prototyping of a concept for the new enterprise software environment of the Wien Museum with the requirements
- remote
- efficient
- customizable
On the basis of the developed specifications, a cost-effective commissioning of the individual measures should be guaranteed by tendering.
MY CONTRIBUTION
Advising IT management, internal services and senior curators with regard to the introduction of a user-centered system.
Using user research and prototyping, I created a factual basis for the conception of the future software landscape of the Wien Museum.
My roles
- UX-Consulting
- User Research
- Conception
- Wireframing
- Prototyping
Approach
In a project of this size — with an unusually large number of stakeholders — the first thing I wanted to do was get an objective overview of the current situation.
To achieve this I have undertaken:
- a company-wide, anonymized software evaluation via questionnaire with regard to the UX principles
- Workplace interviews for further investigation
Special peculiarities of the museum employees
At the beginning of my research, I suspected the curators had very high demands on their work equipment and was therefore surprised at their modesty.
The whole concentration of the curators was on the exhibition production, they were very cautious about themselves.
THAT BACK AND FORTH
The way user experience design works was still completely unknown in this state museum.
I ensured trust-building communication in three stages:
- Transparency
We openly announced that research would be carried out to improve the museum work. - Encouragement
Before starting any measure, my team spoke to the workforce in meetings that took place without me. In this way, all employees were able to openly express their fears. - Safety
Each individual was assured that our research did not constitute a review of their work performance.
Iso-Norm Questionnaire
First I started with a broad survey of employees using a questionnaire on the 7 UX dialogue principles:
suitability for the task, self-descriptiveness, controllability, conformity with user expectations, error tolerance, suitability for individualisation and for learning
The outdated museum software was rated below average overall, but the following areas were found to be particularly inadequate:
- Suitability for individualisation
The fact that the system cannot be adapted to the technical level of the user was particularly criticized here. - Suitability for learning
In concrete terms, the functions and possibilities of the software were only made accessible to the employees to a very limited extent. - Error tolerance
The system gave the users no support in the event of errors or corrections.
Workplace interviews
After evaluating the questionnaires, I interviewed five employees from different departments at their workplace and made notes.
- At first I just watched them do their routine work in the system.
- Then I asked them to explain to me what they were doing or what they might like to do.
- I was particularly interested in the problematic topics of the previous survey — suitability for individualisation, suitability for learning and error tolerance.
Challenge
The people I spoke to had come to terms with suffering from the software to varying degrees.
- How could I encourage them to think about improvement?
Solution
As the best means following question turned out:
If we could do magic, then what should be possible?
On that everyone was able to respond well with their wishes and needs.
Concrete finding from the workplace interviews
Since there was no documentation, the employees asked each other about their experiences with the system.
Based on this observation, I made a detailed description of the future software an essential requirement for the tender.
Rejected assumption
One of my team’s initial hypotheses was that there are uniform working methods within the individual departments in the museum. For example, we brought together curators for photography, as opposed to archaeologists.
However, it turned out:
- Each curator develops her exhibitions with her own, creative approach.
- Some are very textual, write and do a lot of research.
- Others are primarily based on material, color, morphology, etc.
The demands on the system with which they carry out their work are completely different.
Output
Therefore, one result of my research was the creation of personas that served as representations for the extremely different user groups.
These guidelines lined up future software customization.
PASSION FOR DETAIL
The user research gave rise to questions that we wanted to review:
- What do curators understand by individual adaptation?
- Can the ideas of the curators be implemented?
- Would it really make a meaningful difference?
We decided to test these points with working prototypes for two exhibitions.
Forms and fields
For the upcoming exhibitions “Divided History. Viyana — Beč — Vienna” and “Sex in Vienna”, 1,500–2,000 objects from private collections of the Viennese population had to be recorded.
To do this, these artifacts should all have been brought to the museum on Karlsplatz.
Plan
The objects should be recorded remotely.
- I set up forms for cataloging via a secure web login.
- With the respective curators, we precisely defined the required fields.
Result
The recording of the artifacts via web login could be done satisfactorily by external employees.
- The curators meant by individual adjustment, the precise name and order of form fields for data collection for their exhibition.
- The requirements for the specific design of the multi-page forms were very simple.
- The decentralized recording of the artifacts saved the curators a lot of working time.
This test gave me concrete results as checking my research.
Surprise
Assumption
I found the outdated visual design of the museum software to be problematic.
- With a more activating design, I wanted to improve the user experience.
Proposal
Presentation of a draft for the two exhibition forms:
- Splashscreen and Hero-Shot designed with works of art from the museum.
Result
The curators accepted the prettiness as long as it didn’t interfere with their form fields.
- A value was not added by the Visual Design, the design of the forms had priority.
Learning
Curators operate under great time pressure and process an enormous amount of information with rapid frequency.
- Performance matters
Every additional interaction adds up to hundreds of additional clicks or page views over the course of a working day.
Good UX of the forms was decisive here, the visual design had to subordinate itself to it.
Technical implementation
As soon as the forms were fully defined, the implementation took place very quickly with:
- Wordpress and Gravity-Forms Plugin
- Export of the data from the web interface to the museum’s system
THE FINAL STONE
The most effective feature for financing the new system was the opening of the curated exhibitions as an online collection.
- Through the website, the exhibitions are also present after they have expired.
Proof of concept
To test this feature, we exported an excerpt of collections from the database.
- Using this database export, I designed a prototype.
Result
I was able to prove the following:
- Exhibitions, collections or even just individual works can be put online from the system on a separate page.
- The work and works owned by the museum are very attractive for global presentation.
The conceptual work of the entire team as well as my UX consulting provided benefits for the financing of the project.
The handover
The presentation of the objects online made it clear to the Wien Museum how much could be gained by changing the system.
With the documented research and the implemented prototypes, I was able to hand over a financially viable and feasible concept to the museum management.
Relevance
Publicity is the currency of the curators as well as the museum management and cultural policy.
W ith the online collection as a beacon, the museum met the calculated demand.
PASSING ON THE RELAY
By means of tenders, the implementation of the respective measures was commissioned with a mix of large software providers, agencies and individual programmers.
The new software landscape resulted in:
- Optimal working conditions for curators and registrars
- Effort and cost minimization in IT and internal services
- Publicity for the museum and the city of Vienna through the online collection
- Business growth due to increased exhibition production and more visitor revenue
Since the concept was successfully financed on the cultural-political level — in the mid six-figure range — the museum’s IT has received budget increases every year.
