The Merchant’s House Museum is a small house museum located in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood. Housed in a building from 1832, it is considered one of the finest examples of Late-Federal and Greek Revival architecture still standing. The museum narrates the 19th-century New York City lifestyle through the perspective of its former residents, the Tredwell family.

However, like many museums during the pandemic, The Merchant’s House Museum saw a decline in visitor numbers. The pandemic's impact led to a gradual decrease in its audience. Presently, the museum is diligently working to recover the pre-pandemic levels of visitor engagement, striving to reconnect with its audience and revive the cultural vibrancy it once enjoyed.

Small museums like the Merchant’s House Museum tend to operate on modest budgets with limited staff and resources. The Merchant’s House Museum is no exception, with a team of five employees who are bolstered by a group of loyal volunteers.

The museum sector faced significant challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and efforts are underway to restore attendance levels to pre-pandemic standards. Although the Merchant’s House Museum has seen a general increase in visitation, it struggles to engage a specific demographic: young adults (aged 18 to 35).

While the current website of the Merchant's House Museum boasts a wealth of content for users to explore, it suffers from a deficiency in structured information architecture, leading to a suboptimal web navigation experience. Additionally, the website lacks optimization for mobile users.

To analyze the results of the user interviews, we transcribed the interview data and extracted the content into sticky notes on a Miro board for Affinity Diagramming.

In user research, we identified the following three reasons why young adults visit museums.

1. Hanging out with friends:
In the interviews, all six participants mentioned that they almost always visit museums or art galleries with friends. They enjoy discussing the exhibits with friends, whether or not their friends have a background in art and design. Visiting museums together is a joyful experience for them.
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2. Getting to know a city through museums:
‍Many young adult interviewees mentioned that when they travel to a new city, they often visit local museums or art galleries. They believe that these institutions showcase the history and culture of a city in a unique way.

3. Enthusiasts of art and design:
Among the recruited interviewees, four had backgrounds in art and design, such as degrees in interior design or product design. They already had a high interest in museums and art galleries, using visits to gain design inspiration.

In the interviews, we found that young adults learn about museums through word of mouth, social media, or friend recommendations. Once they have a general understanding of a museum, they go to the museum's website to obtain the most comprehensive information. The following three points represent the information young adults most desire when browsing museum websites.

1. Real-time updates:
‍Real-time updates are one of the most critical factors for young adults when browsing museum websites. Having up-to-date exhibition information and museum operating hours allows them to plan their visits more efficiently and determine if the exhibits align with their interests.

2. Unique Exhibition Collection: Besides large and well-known museums like the Met or the Louvre, some young adults expressed a special interest in smaller museums. However, these smaller museums often have poorly designed websites, potentially failing to capture the interest of young adults. Bryan mentioned, "the smaller museum has a very, you know, I would say obsolete, almost new website design. So, but they have a great collection."

3. Easy ticket purchasing:
Most young adults prefer to purchase museum tickets directly from the museum's website as they consider it the safest way to obtain tickets. They are concerned that third-party platforms may provide tickets of unclear origin. Therefore, clear information on purchasing tickets on the museum's website is crucial for them.

In addition to understanding the motivations and needs of young adults visiting museums, we conducted an analysis of eight website competitors to explore current trends in museum website design and identify potential design directions.

We conducted separate analyses on four direct competitor websites and four non-direct competitor websites. By scrutinizing both types of websites, we aim to uncover diverse potential design directions.

After completing the competitor analysis, we conducted user research through the Optimal Workshop, specifically employing card sorting and tree testing. These two methodologies provided insights into how young adults interact with museum websites, enhancing our understanding of user mental models.

To begin, we deconstructed the content of the Merchant’s House Museums website, creating a total of 50 cards. Simultaneously, we modified the titles on the website to ensure participants easily grasped the card content.

Before formal testing, we engaged two participants in a pilot test for refinement. Subsequently, we conducted remote tests with a total of 8 users, including two participants in unmoderated testing, while the others underwent moderated testing. Each test took approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Feel free to take the test by clicking on this link.

Here are some screenshots showcasing partial results from the Optimal Workshop testing.

Our team redesigned the information architecture of the website using Google Sheets based on the card sorting results. Then, we came up with 10 tasks to test the redesigned website's structure for different user scenarios. After the tests, we had brief 10-minute interviews with the participants to better understand their experiences with tree testing. Feel free to take the test by clicking on this link.

We followed a similar approach to recruit participants as we did in card sorting. We began with two individuals for a polite test, and later, we involved a total of 8 users for remote testing. Among them, two participants did unmoderated testing, while the rest participated in moderated testing.

Here are a screenshot showcasing partial results from the Optimal Workshop testing. The results indicate that We included 5 questions gain success rate over 60%. 3 questions gain success rate between 40%-60%. 2 questions gain success rate under 40%.

After redesigning the website's information architecture, we proceeded to create wireframes. The goal was to obtain user feedback in the early stages of design at a relatively low cost, allowing for continuous design iterations.In our user research, we identified that, for young adults, the two most crucial pieces of information on a museum website are the museum and exhibition introductions, along with ticket purchase details. Hence, we used these two behaviors as tasks for the current testing phase.