Designing the Visitor Experience in the face of a global pandemic

Using a recent service design project with the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford as an example, this online seminar walked participants through a set of visitor behaviours and expectations in the wake of Coronavirus. We then shared a series of experience patterns — guidelines and ideas for key moments in the visitor journey.

Transcript

1. The Visitor Experience
   In the face of a global pandemic
   

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2. Changing Visitor Behaviour
   

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3. The modes in which people visit Cultural Attractions
   STUDY
   CONSUME
   ESCAPE
   FACILITATE
   EXPLORE
   INFLUENCED BY
   OTHERS
   SELF
   DIRECTED
   INTERNAL
   REFLECTION
   EXTERNAL
   REFLECTION
   PRODUCE
   

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4. Visitor Modes and Primary Motivation
   EXPERIENCE
   MEMORY
   KNOWLEDGE
   INSPIRATION
   BACKDROP RESOURCE
   The knowledge threshold
   STUDY EXPLORE
   PRODUCE
   ESCAPE
   CONSUME FACILITATE
   

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5. Primary Motivations and Engagement
   TIME INVESTED
   DEPTH OF ENGAGEMENT
   ESCAPE CONSUME FACILITATE STUDY EXPLORE PRODUCE
   After
   During
   Before
   …a visit
   

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6. How have lockdown conditions
   affected these modes of visiting?
   

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7. How have lockdown conditions affected the
   Facilitate mode?
   People in Facilitate mode feel an increased
   sense of responsibility for the safety of their
   group.
   This leads to greater digital engagement
   before their visit as they research the
   experience and the safety guidelines in
   place.
   

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8. How have lockdown conditions affected the
   Escape mode?
   Escape mode was highly serendipitous
   and opportunist.
   This may mean people arrive without being
   aware of the changes to the experience
   and without a ticket.
   The motivations for their escape will
   certainly have changed. Many people will
   be using the Museum as a venue to escape
   lockdown isolation. This will lead to new
   behaviours being exhibited.
   Fewer visitors leads to greater satisfaction
   for people in escape mode. They are often
   surprised by this.
   

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9. How have lockdown conditions affected the
   Study, Explore & Produce mode?
   People primarily in Study, Explore or
   Produce mode could decide to skip the
   visit altogether.
   They will use digital content instead and
   look for opportunities to engage with
   webinars and video to fulfil informational
   requirement or explore areas of interest.
   

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10. How have lockdown conditions affected the
    Consume mode?
    In Consume mode people want a low-
    effort, must-see experience.
    A higher proportion of this archetype will
    be locals or day trippers at this time and
    they may try to fit a visit around other local
    activities.
    Booking a ticket needs to be quick and
    simple.
    Restrictions need to feel easy to comply
    with.
    

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11. The Visitor Journey
    

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12. The Visitor Journey: Then
    BEFORE DURING AFTER
    Choosing to
    visit
    Planning Travelling Arriving Exploring the
    collection
    Taking a break Buying
    souvenirs
    Leaving Sharing
    

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13. The Visitor Journey: Now
    BEFORE DURING AFTER
    Choosing to
    visit
    Planning Prebooking a
    ticket
    Travelling Arriving Exploring the
    collection
    Taking a break Buying
    souvenirs
    Leaving Sharing
    

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14. Design Patterns for the Visitor
    Experience
    

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15. The National Gallery reopened with three
    one-way routes.
    Ashmolean took a different approach:
    _ Encourage people to explore
    _ A trail to form the spine of a visit to
    explore from
    _ One-way restrictions only where
    necessary
    Routes or Trails?
    

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16. Additional lenses, perspectives & more diverse
    voices
    There is a broad discussion about the
    dubious history of some of the artefacts in
    some collections.
    Museums & galleries want to acknowledge
    this and promote discussion about it.
    Beyond this there are often many ways to
    consider artefacts in collections and a
    wealth of content that could be
    communicated.
    

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18. Making the complete set of information
    about an object available in context to the
    object itself requires some form of digital
    extension.
    How do we design that digital extension in
    such a way that it can contain all of the
    information an institution has about a
    single object?
    Digital augmentation of physical
    experiences
    

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19. ALFRED JEWEL
    Made for the only English monarch
    known as 'the Great'
    The Alfred Jewel is a masterpiece of
    goldsmith's work formed around a
    tear-shaped slice of rock crystal. Its
    inscription: AELFRED MEC HEHT
    GEWYRCAN – 'Alfred ordered me to
    be made’ – connects the jewel with
    King Alfred the Great (r. 871–899)
    making it among the most significant
    of royal relics.
    Alfred ruled the southern Anglo-
    Saxon kingdom of Wessex and is
    famous for opposing the Vikings and
    Image © Ashmolean
    Museum, University of
    Oxford | AN1836
    p.135.371
    &
    '
    #
    %
    28/08/2020, 10:47
    Page 1 of 1
    

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20. BYOD Bring Your Own Device
    Loaning people devices such as audio
    guides or even tablets for the length of
    their visit is a practice that is largely
    unnecessary, is costly and is limiting for
    institutions.
    Designing for a visitors own device is more
    flexible longterm and more suitable to the
    current situation.
    

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21. QR codes were seen as dead. Maybe
    things have changed?
    They have seen a resurgence in bars,
    restaurants and other contexts in response
    to Coronavirus.
    Native support is available in devices.
    If not QR codes, is NFC a better cost
    effective answer to linking physical and
    digital?
    Why choose?
    The Resurgence of the QR Code
    

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22. Seducible Moments in the Visitor Experience
    We know from research, that seducible
    moments can only happen when people
    have completed at least part of their
    original quest.
    Asking for a donation at entry is a call to
    action before people have completed at
    least part of their quest.
    Therefore, it may be more effective to
    concentrate donation points at key
    moments in the visitor journey i.e at the
    exit of a particular popular gallery or near a
    ‘must-see’ object.
    

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23. Contact us
    If there are any questions or you would like
    to talk to us about commissioning a
    project, please do not hesitate to contact
    us.
    Paul-Jervis Heath
    Founding Partner & Chief Designer
    paul@modernhuman.co
    +44 79 7456 7823
    Ruth Kent
    Head of Business Development
    ruth@modernhuman.co
    +44 77 9532 3280
    

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