Rethinking a Virtual Experience for the Petersen Automotive Museum
A UX/UI Design Case During Covid-19
Project Overview
Overview
Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles is currently closed due to the pandemic and is looking to create a means for visitors to interact with the museum in a way that mimics the in person experience.
My Roles
UX Research
UI Design
Usability Testing
Concept Strategy
Scope
2- Week Sprint
Your “Check Engine” Light is On
Problem Statement
Car enthusiasts and museum visitors want to explore the new exhibits at the Petersen Automotive Museum but it is closed due to COVID-19, and the virtual experience doesn’t feel the same as in-person because it was difficult to navigate as it has no information regarding the collection.
Design Hypothesis
We believe that by designing a virtual tour to emulate the in-person experience, museum visitors can easily and safely explore the exhibits from the convenience of their own home. Because we know that users prefer the in-person experience but cannot currently access it, a robust complimentary virtual experience will allow users to continue to support the museum and we will know this by the increased online traffic and donations.
Understanding the Drivers (Pun Intended)
The Client
The Petersen faces two challenges: meeting technologies that reenact a currently limited in-person museum experience due the Covid-19 pandemic, and their existing YouTube channel only offers videos of the exhibits which doesn’t compare to an in-person experience.
The Petersen’s exhibits are left in a showroom with no one to enjoy them while it is closed and visitors are more reluctant to leave their homes to follow social distancing guidelines.
The Car Enthusiast
Through an initial survey, we learned that museum visitors' sensory stimulation is limited. YouTube videos and the website gallery's information is scattered and difficult to navigate and interact with.
This current solution is failing the user because the videos are not immersive enough, they do not allow the user to further research any artifacts, and it does not mimic an in-person museum experience.
Business Research Findings
The Petersen Automotive Museum looks to explore and present the history of the automobile, they thrive to become the center of automobile history, culture and enthusiasm, and the look to educate and excite the people of Los Angeles and beyond.
We collected data by analyzing the business’ website, social media and other sources available online. We also conducted competitive and comparative analyses, and heuristic evaluation to better understand what other museums were doing during the pandemic.
We considered constraints of technologies available as well as constraints presented by the Covid-19 pandemic. Most museums throughout the world have made available virtual tours of their showrooms and exhibits, but they were for the most part vague and incomplete. The Petersen’s only attempt at making content available was through their YouTube channel where they posted a 60-minute video tour of their basement level also known as The Vault. This video was also vague and incomplete and didn’t allow the user to explore the cars more in detail.
User Research Insights
50 Surveys
Museums are thought of as a travel/tourist destination.
People are expecting to explore history, which supports our insights to hobby commonality.
People want to learn and have fun: educational setting vs. learning for fun? i.e technical knowledge of car vs. being educated on history of it.
People would prefer to attend in-person, even during a pandemic; we should look further into what entices people about the in-person experience.
People want a 360 view of the interior and interactive experiences (Museum exterior not as important); individual exhibits are also important.
People don’t want a guide but they would prefer a map/pamphlet, because generally they want to navigate themselves.
They don’t want to be forced into one tour; whatever we implement should be a medium - wherever you’re at you could instantly have a tour or not have a tour.
They are willing to donate $1-10 if the client wants to monetize it.
3 User Interviews & Task Analyses
The objective of the user interview was to obtain qualitative data from museum goers studying their habits and behavior. Task analysis was done to study the user’s behavior while following a task directed by one of the UX designers. We selected 3 participants, one of which lives in Los Angeles and has visited the Petersen before. The second participant is an avid automobile enthusiast and the third participant is a museum goer.
They provided us with enough insight on their expectations from an interactive museum experience as well as their needs and goals when exploring a museum.
Affinity Mapping Findings
The following were some of the themes:
knowing where you are and where to go
where visitors/viewers are coming from,
what those viewers want in an immersive experience,
their opinion on donations,
what they want to see at each vehicle,
what they want in a virtual tour,
what do they want in an immersive experience,
what their visual and information wants were,
what caused them pain and frustration from the museum experience,
what were they passionate about.
Design Decisions
Key Features & MVP
On-demand guidance
Easy to use navigation
Detailed exhibit information
Ideation
The following features needed to be included or at least considered when sketching keeping the user in mind: map, help, gift shop, staying in the same room, staying on the same page, info card and images and video; collapsible map/navigation, as well as these design elements: museum logo, exit top right, donate/help buttons, map, carrots and info icon above the real museum plaque.
User Flow
All three features were part of our single virtual museum experience, so we only needed to prepare one user flow.
Testing
Usability Testing Findings
The objective of this usability test was to find out how usable and practical is the tour. How intuitive was the tour navigation? And to find how users found the information they were looking for? We recruited three participants. They were given the same task to browse through the virtual museum, and we tracked and documented their actions as they shared their screens through Zoom.
We recruited three participants to do a usability test with the objective to learn 1. How intuitive was the tour navigation 2. How users found the information they were looking for.
As we had established before, the lack of technology such as Google Maps navigation for the functionality of the prototype, diminished or challenged the user when taking the test.
2nd Iteration
Immediately after concluding our user testing, we addressed the issues that our users found.
By adding more context as to where they are outside of the map.
Breadcrumbs for the showroom to help the user know where they are located.
Edit or get rid of the donate button.
Change or leave the home page as it is right now.
Include scroll bar indicators on exterior and tighten the info card.
Make the exterior info bubble easier to find and understand by adding a “Learn about this building” message.
Unveiling the Model Year Virtual Museum
Building Exterior
(1) The virtual tour starts “outside” of the museum where the visitor has the opportunity of enjoying the aesthetic of the architecture of the building. (2) An overlay page provides information on the building’s history. (3) Also, there is a “help” button and a “donate” button. (4) “Back to start” allows the user to exit the experience at any time.
Exhibit Information Card
(1) Throughout the experience, the tour allows the user to know what their current location is as well as (2) having the ability to use the museum map. (3) 360-degree navigation and mobility enhances the user’s immersive virtual museum experience.
Information Card
(1) The exhibit artifact information card provides the user with vehicle information, images and, (2) available videos of the car.
Exhibit Information Button
(1) In order to mimic the museum experience, the call to action button is the actual information card in the showroom.
The Road Ahead
Short Term
Finish the Italian showroom by adding the rest of the collection.
Improve the functionality of the navigation map and allow the users to favorite exhibits and to add comments and questions to the museum.
Long Term
Expand the tour to the other levels of the museum including The Vault.
Add other languages to reach a wider worldwide audience.
Consider accessibility features.
Add virtual reality and mobile platforms.
Reflection
Having worked with both Lindsay and Michael and for the first time in a group project, gave me a great insight of how collaborative UX work is. Having each team member present their ideas and to build on each other ideas, motivated me to keep up with them.
The biggest challenge we encountered was the lack of a 360o view plug in for Figma to create Google Maps-like functionality to the prototype. Thankfully, Michael created the museum showroom images using Adobe Photoshop and once we overcame this challenge, we were able to create a functional and interactive high fidelity prototype; and we were happy with the end result.
After discussing our project with our instructors, we definitely should have emphasized the use of the donation option (which we added) to our presentation to show the client how they could get a return on investment.
With this prototype, the museum goer would be able to enjoy the exhibits at the Petersen Automotive Museum from the comfort of their own home. The site’s navigation mimic’s the museum’s own layout and if put into action, it would give them an even more immersive experience.