My Many Roles as Designer
Donning the many hats of a UX designer, I brought the Audio Tour app to life. Sketches, wireframes, and
prototypes fueled the app's development, each iteration honed through user testing and a focus on accessibility.
The result is an app empowering users to confidently explore museums, their journey guided by my design.
What is Audio Tour?
Audio Tour, a mobile application designed for the Google UX Design Professional Certification, empowers users
to create their own museum experience at The Tampa Museum of Art.
This conceptual app equips individuals with captivating audio guides, all housed within a user-friendly platform,
allowing them to craft personalized journeys through the museum at their own pace.
Who is Audio Tour’s Competition?
In Tampa’s art scene Audio Tour wasn't alone. The Tampa Museum of Art faced competition from established
institutions like The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, The Ringling Museum in Sarasota, and in downtown Tampa,
The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts. This competitive landscape demanded a unique solution for museum
experiences.
Curious and Busy Users
Surveys and interviews on museum visitor experiences illuminated two user groups: Charles, the art-loving
student battling a tight schedule, and Maricel, the working professional with an insatiable artistic curiosity.
Empathy maps confirmed these findings – busy young adults like Charles craved ways to maximize limited
museum time, while art enthusiasts like Maricel desired a more interactive and enriching experience.
Audio Tour prioritized the primary user group: busy young adults yearning to transform fleeting museum visits
into meaningful explorations.
Charting a Course: Defining the Goals of Audio Tour
Busy schedules and overflowing exhibits can turn museums into intimidating labyrinths. Art lovers like students
juggling classes and working professionals lacking free time, want a way to navigate this challenge.
Audio Tour steps in to empower these enthusiasts, offering a user-friendly platform to explore, select, and listen
to engaging audio tours, transforming museum visits from chaotic strolls into enriching explorations.
Tackling User Challenges
I imagined users wandering through a vast museum, its halls overflowing with captivating artifacts and artwork.
I thought, “But where do they begin, how do they choose which exhibits to delve into, and how can they ensure
they grasp their true significance?” This was the challenge insights revealed in the process of building Audio Tour.
Understanding the User
Armed with user research, competitor insights, and sketches, I began designing the Audio Tour app. Empathizing
with Charles, a typical user, I understood their frustration with the museum's maze-like layout and their desire
for a deeper experience. Surveys and interviews revealed key barriers: navigation, limited time, and lack of
interactivity. The biggest pain point? Missing context – visitors felt lost and confused without readily available
information, hindering their ability to appreciate the art.
User research revealed a core need: empowering visitors like Charles with self-guided, time-efficient museum
experiences. To build a seamless experience, user flows mapped Charles' interactions, pinpointing improvements
through storyboards visualizing the app and user journey. Finally, research insights informed a user-friendly
information architecture (IA), building a sitemap – the app's functional blueprint.
Unveiling the Solution: From Paper to Pixel
User research became the compass, guiding the transformation from raw data to a tangible solution.
Paper wireframes materialized, crafted with user needs in mind. Each iteration, fueled by peer feedback,
highlighted the most user-centric features. This analog exploration ensured the digital experience would
prioritize easy navigation, accessibility, and maximizing a visitor's limited time.
Low-Fidelity Exploration: Building with User Feedback
Paper sketches evolved into a digital prototype focused on finding and choosing audio tours quickly. Usability
testing, meticulously planned, became the next step. Real users navigated the prototype, revealing their needs:
clear naming, engaging content, and detailed tour info. Armed with these insights, high-fidelity mockups took
shape, bringing the user-focused vision closer to reality.
User Feedback Fuels Refinement
User testing exposed the need for clear naming, engaging content, and detailed tour info. High-fidelity mockups
addressed these issues, but further testing revealed room for improvement. User feedback guided a streamlined
audio tour flow, simplified card designs, and enriched tour information. The final prototype incorporated these
enhancements, alongside a museum map, estimated tour times, and an upgraded media player. Accessibility
remained a priority, with features like alt text, high contrast, and intuitive icon placement for navigation.
Lessons Learned Designing the Audio Tour App
The design journey wasn't always smooth sailing. Juggling research, design, and testing- and learning new
concepts on the fly felt overwhelming at times. But peer feedback offered a lifeline, reminding me I wasn't alone.
This collaborative spirit fueled the final version of the Audio Tour prototype, which resonated with users. "Easy
to use, informative, and richly detailed," one participant exclaimed, echoing the project's goal: empowering users
to transform museum visits into enriching explorations. This solo odyssey, from conception to final prototype,
became a valuable immersion into the world of app creation.
Envisioning Success for Audio Tour
If Audio Tour had launched, I would have actively monitored the following to gauge its success and impact:
Positive app ratings and user testimonials would serve as a powerful validation of the app's usability
and enjoyment factor. Increased app usage within the museum walls would signify that Audio Tour
is becoming an indispensable tool for visitors. And an increase in digital ticket sales within the app,
would confirm a seamless and user-friendly experience that surpasses the convenience of traditional physical tickets.
