Slides from the seventh session of the course "The Recurated Museum" by Sytze Van Herck & Christopher Morse at the University of Luxembourg (Summer Semester, 2020). Course slides typically begin with a brief summary of the online discussions that occurred before the session.

1. The Recurated Museum:
Museum Exhibition Design
through User Experience (UX)
Sytze Van Herck & Christopher Morse

2. ANNOUNCEMENTS
new due date for the paper
results of the mid-semester
evaluation
upcoming guest lecturers

3. DIGITAL EVALUATION ESSAY
The evaluation essay is due on April
17, 2020 (11:59 pm), but you may
submit at any point beforehand on
the Moodle. Late papers will lose 1
point (of 20) for each additional day
after the deadline.

4. DIGITAL EVALUATION ESSAY
Please cite your sources using a
style of your choosing (APA, MLA,
etc.), but remain consistent with
that style throughout your paper. Do
not plagiarize.

5. EVALUATION ESSAY
Introduction
● background (collection being
featured, methods used,
mode of access)
● research question

6. EVALUATION ESSAY
Body
● description of the exhibition,
its mission, goals, and
audience
● critical assessment of the
exhibition
● assessment of the evaluation
scheme (MacDonald, etc.)

7. EVALUATION ESSAY
Conclusion
● summary of findings based on
your critical reflection on the
assessment tool used
● limitations of your
assessment & potential future
work

8. GRADING
TRM Concepts Applied
Evaluation of
Collection
Analysis of Collection
Evaluation of
Assessment
Format & Style
Critical reflection on the
museum collection, its
mission, audience, and
goals
Critical assessment of
collection using a
framework covered in or
outside of class
Critical reflection on the
assessment framework
(e.g. MacDonald) and its
relevance to the
collection
Concepts from the
course and additional
sources applied within
the paper
Follows correct format
guidelines, citation
styles, and has an
overall flow
25% 25% 25% 15% 10%

9. Wouter van der
Horst
May 6, 2020
Rijksmuseum & We
Share Culture
Jeff Steward
April 29, 2020
Harvard Art
Museums
GUEST LECTURERS

10. Museum as Emotional Place
interactions with other visitors
human connection
introspection
shared encounters
(Perry et Al., 2018)
"emotions are both evaluative and
an essential part of reasoning."
"emotions trigger attention and
memory, which are critical to
learning itself."

11. Designing Happiness @ Museums
Researchers have shown that our first impressions and final moments exert the
greatest influence on our memory of an experience. Designer's should,
therefore, take advantage of this positive memory bias and pay special
attention to these times.
(Turri, 2012)

12. http://emergingsynthesis.squarespace.com/michael-turri-18/1412

13. http://emergingsynthesis.squarespace.com/michael-turri-18/1412

14. Designing Happiness @ Museums
As we thought about designing for visitor happiness, we brainstormed different
ideas for different ages. For example, educational experiences through play are
great for children, whereas young adults enjoy social events and older adults
might enjoy having a meditation session in the museum's quiet, light-filled
spaces.
(Turri, 2012)

15. Visitor Experience Design
visitor-centered
embrace diversity
collaborate
visualise
assume change
prototype
"Design is not just about the form
of an object or system, but instead
a dynamic method of thinking that
places the visitor at the center of
the design.”
(Mason, 2018)

16. Levels of Design
Experience
Interaction
Interface
visitor emotions and actions
outlines environment, context, needs, and motivations
represents how visitor moves through content
structure that arranges content, interactions, and functionality
shapes structure and functionality
graphic components, layout, navigation
(Mason, 2018)

17. Design Requirements
Content
Functional
Look & Feel
what kind of information needs to be presented, in what form and
structure
determines what online exhibition should do, what are the main actions
visitors will perform
effective visual technique is a mood board gathering colors, textures,
and patterns
(Mason, 2018)

18. User Experience (UX) Design

19. UX Design Process
https://hci.uni.lu/lab/

20. Defining the product and
preliminary research
(Lallemand & Gronier, 2018)

21. Collecting user needs
(Lallemand & Gronier, 2018)

22. Production of design ideas
(Lallemand & Gronier, 2018)

23. (Lallemand & Gronier, 2018)
Formalizing design solutions

24. (Lallemand & Gronier, 2018)
Iterative evaluation of
generated solutions

25. Case Study: Museum Planner

26. Few studies have looked at how to combine situated and personal displays in
a museum scenario… Our work aims to examine more closely the use of
handheld devices and large displays in a museum visit scenario,
extending previous research to that direction.
PLANNING
(Belinky et al., 2012)

27. We wanted to understand visitors’ attitudes towards planning a museum
visit and specifically towards using a visit planning system that uses
interaction with large displays. One of the goals of this study was to narrow
down and decide on different options when actually implementing the system.
EXPLORATION
(Belinky et al., 2012)

28. (Belinky et al., 2012)
Interviews & Paper Prototype

29. IDEATION
Findings from the paper prototype study are divided into two general
categories: usability and interface, and content presentation… One of the
main goals of the paper prototyping was to evaluate the functionality of
several controls placed on the display and on the handheld device.
(Belinky et al., 2012)

30. Second Paper Prototype
(Belinky et al., 2012)

31. GENERATION
Following the understandings gained from the paper prototype study we
implemented a prototype of the planning system. We have removed some
controls, and followed other usability insights gained from the
preliminary study. In addition, based on the user responses, we implemented
only the automatic planning type in which the system recommends an initial
group plan.
(Belinky et al., 2012)

32. High Fidelity Prototype
(Belinky et al., 2012)

33. EVALUATION
We are currently conducting a user study that examines the usability and
utility of the system. Specifically, we are comparing the two interfaces we
implemented (shared vs. private), to examine how the differences in content
distribution affect visitor behavior and visitor satisfaction.
(Belinky et al., 2012)

34. WHAT DOES UX
OFFER MUSEUM
EXHIBITION DESIGN?

35. UX Research for Museums
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBKO1FqXLo0

36. HOW CAN UX
HELP WITH OUR
EXHIBITION?

37. PLANNING EXPLORATION IDEATION GENERATION EVALUATION
DEFINE THE SCOPE
& RESEARCH QUESTION

38. PLANNING EXPLORATION IDEATION GENERATION EVALUATION
PROTO-PERSONAS,
CHALLENGES &
USER STUDY

39. Personas are fictional representations and generalizations
of a cluster of your target users who exhibit similar
attitudes, goals, and behaviors in relation to your product.
They’re human-like snapshots of relevant and meaningful
commonalities in your customer groups and are based on
user research.
Nielsen Norman Group

40. Source: www.christinanghiem.com/images/persona-01.jpg

41. Unlike the standard persona, proto-personas are based on
the assumptions of the stakeholders, and further checked
against actual data. They are a collection of heuristics,
market research, and intuition presenting an opportunity to
articulate the target audience, their needs, and behaviors…
They ultimately represent what we think our users are like.
UX Collective

42. Persona Profile
Brainstorm exercise on Mural

43. Social Media Strategy
Brainstorm exercise on Mural

44. PLANNING EXPLORATION IDEATION GENERATION EVALUATION
PROTO-PERSONAS,
CHALLENGES &
USER STUDY

45. PLANNING EXPLORATION IDEATION GENERATION EVALUATION
FOCUS GROUP
INTERVIEW
QUESTIONNAIRE
OBSERVATION

46. EXPLORATION
FOCUS GROUP
INTERVIEW
QUESTIONNAIRE
OBSERVATION What does storytelling look like on this social
media platform?
What other museums have used this platform
before to highlight an exhibition?
What are users of this platform doing to engage
with one another?
What is missing from this experience?

47. EXPLORATION
FOCUS GROUP
INTERVIEW
QUESTIONNAIRE
OBSERVATION What kinds of stories are you drawn to?
What makes you follow a museum on social
media?
I am most interested in stories that ___________.
I feel most engaged with Instagram when
_______.

48. EXPLORATION
FOCUS GROUP
INTERVIEW
QUESTIONNAIRE
OBSERVATION What kinds of museum content do you follow
most often?
What can you tell me about …?

49. EXPLORATION
FOCUS GROUP
INTERVIEW
QUESTIONNAIRE
OBSERVATION Icebreaker activity
Brainstorm
Solution Generation
Feedback

50. HOW DO I KNOW
WHAT TO ASK FOR OR
WHAT TO OBSERVE?

51. HOW MIGHT WE…
When designing your user study, always consider how the
data you plan to collect will answer your research
question.
Prepare your data collection tools in advance, so you always
know precisely how and what you are collecting.

52. HOW MIGHT WE EXPLORE
LUXEMBOURGISH STREET
ART THROUGH THE
ARTISTS THEMSELVES?

53. I am most engaged by Instagram
stories that ____________.
I wish that museums on Twitter
would feature _____________.
I typically use Facebook when I am
_____________.

54. Design Thinking Toolkit

55. ETHICS
Ethics are important!
When you collect data about users, they must be made
aware of your study. Moreover, you must receive signed
consent (physically or digitally). Check the Moodle for more
information on consent forms.

56. Assignments
DEADLINE
08.04 Prepare user study materials (survey, interviews, observation, etc.)

57. Bibliography
Belinky, I., Lanir, J., & Kuflik, T. (2012). Using handheld devices and situated displays for collaborative planning of a museum visit.
Proceedings of the 2012 International Symposium on Pervasive Displays - PerDis ’12, 1–6.
Flaherty, K. (2018). Why Personas Fail. Nielsen Norman Group.
Hassenzahl, M., & Tractinsky, N. (2006). User experience – a research agenda. Behaviour & Information Technology, 25(2), 91–97.
Jacobs, A. (2017, March 9). UX: Creating Proto-Personas. Medium.
Lallemand, C., & Gronier, G. (2018). Methodes de design UX (2nd ed.). Eyrolles.
Mason, M. (2017). “Visitor Experience Design.” In A. Hossaini & N. Blankenberg (Eds.), Manual of Digital Museum Planning. Rowman &
Littlefield.
Perry, Sara Elizabeth, Roussou, Maria, Economou, Maria et al. 2018. “Moving Beyond the Virtual Museum: Engaging Visitors Emotionally” 23rd
International Conference on Virtual Systems & Multimedia (VSMM), Dublin, 2017, IEEE, p. 1-8.
Turri, “Research: Designing Happiness @ Museums,” Emerging Synthesis, 2012.

58. Photo by Alvaro Reyes on Unsplash Why Personas Fail Design Thinking Toolkit UX Research for Museums