Difficulty finding relevant event information

Users struggled to quickly locate event details such as date, time, and availability.

Before

About page screen with text and back button.
Logo with Museum Mate text.

Overview

Type: Academic UX Project

Role: UX Designer

Duration: [10/8/2024 - 4/28/2025]

Tools: Figma


Problem

Museum visitors often struggle to fully engage with exhibitions due to limited access to contextual information and inefficient scheduling tools. While museums provide physical signage, it is often not enough to support deeper understanding or personalized experiences.


Research

Research was conducted through competitive analysis, user personas, and usability testing.

Research was conducted using a combination of:

  • surveys

  • moderated usability testing

  • unmoderated testing (Maze)

  • preference testing

Key findings included:

  • High interest in the product concept
    Participants showed strong engagement and interest in using the app

  • Strong task success rates
    Users were able to complete key tasks like scheduling with a 100% success rate and minimal errors

  • Need for clearer structure and labeling
    Users experienced confusion with icons, navigation, and feature expectations

  • Typography impacts usability
    Users preferred Open Sans over Lato due to better readability

  • Feature value perception matters
    While users liked the added features (audio, extra info), they were unsure if they were worth paying for


Pain Points

Unclear navigation and feature expectations

Some users were unsure how to move between sections like events, camera scanning, and profile.

About page screen with text and back button.

Information overload and poor structure

Users prefer summarized content, but some screens contained too much text or lacked hierarchy.


Final Design

Home page screen with different sections of information.
Events page screen with two options of tours.
Sign in page screen with text boxes for email and password.

The final design focuses on improving clarity, usability, and engagement while maintaining a clean mobile-first experience.

Key design improvements include:

  • Improved navigation clarity
    Icons and labels were refined to better match user expectations and reduce confusion

  • Enhanced event scheduling flow
    The process was simplified to clearly guide users from event selection to confirmation

  • Integrated QR scanning feature
    Users can scan artwork to instantly access detailed descriptions and audio playback

  • Content hierarchy improvements
    Important information is prioritized at the top, with additional details accessible progressively

  • Consistency across UI components
    Spacing, buttons, and layouts were standardized to improve usability

  • Accessibility improvements
    Contrast issues (such as icons) were corrected to improve visibility

Before:

Used Inter font, which appeared less readable in longer text sections and reduced overall clarity.

After:

Switched to Open Sans to improve readability, spacing, and visual comfort for longer content.

Improvements:

Improved text readability and user comfort, especially for content-heavy sections.

Before:

The label “Library” was unclear and did not accurately communicate the purpose of the section.

After:

Renamed to “My Photos” to clearly reflect user-owned content and improve understanding.

Improvements:

Reduced user confusion by using clearer, more intuitive labeling.



Improvements

After

Reflection

Key Improvements:

  • Improved navigation clarity by refining icons and labeling to match user expectations

  • Simplified event scheduling flow to reduce confusion and improve task completion

  • Enhanced readability by restructuring dense content into scannable sections

  • Increased accessibility by improving contrast and visibility of UI elements

  • Standardized UI components to create a more consistent and predictable user experience

Key Insights:

Users need clear guidance when interacting with unfamiliar environments, especially in informational apps like museum guides. Without clear navigation and labeling, users hesitate and disengage.

Breaking down dense information into smaller, scannable sections made content easier to understand and improved overall usability.

What I Learned:

This project emphasized the importance of accessibility and clarity in user interfaces. Even well-designed visuals can fail if users cannot easily interpret or navigate them.

I also learned that small UI decisions — such as icon clarity, text hierarchy, and spacing — have a significant impact on how users interact with the product.

Next Steps:

  • Improve onboarding to guide first-time users through app features

  • Refine interaction feedback (button states, transitions)

  • Enhance accessibility further (larger tap targets, improved contrast)

  • Conduct usability testing to validate navigation and flow improvements

Profile page screen with images and categories.

Prototype Link

Next Project

Confusion around icons and functionality

For example, users mistook certain icons (like search) for different functions.

UX/UI design project focused on a public art museum to advertise exhibitions and tours, provide additional museum information to patrons, and enable patrons to schedule tours.

Before

Profile page screen with images and categories.

After