UX CASE STUDY: The Adler Planetarium.
In a galaxy not too far away…….
A business man by the name of Max Adler, founded America’s first planetarium in Chicago, IL. His vision was to dedicate this structure to the study of astronomy and space exploration. It was declared a national historic landmark in 1987. To this day, it remains as one of Chicago’s popular destinations.
According to an annual report by a group of institutions, whom are part of the Chicago park districts, the planetarium reached an all high museum attendance record in 2015 and 2016. It seemed that schools were adopting the museum as part of their academic recreational field trips. It has since been a strong presence in Chicago and recognized nationwide.
According to data analytics through a 3rd party website, the museum’s online presence has shown to be underperfoming.
These insights provided me with the inspiration of making their website an extension of its successful museum experience.
I initiated my research by visiting the museum to obtain a closer look at why this museum is so special. If I could capture the essence of the experience and express it digitally through its website, I would have done my job. The structure is located at the very end of the northerly tip of Northerly island at the shore of Lake Michigan. Its dome shaped feature was the first thing I noticed followed by the beautful views of the lake. It seemed like the perfect area to star gaze which suited the museum’s culture. I explored various attractions at the museum and had a chance to interview visitors to gain insights about their experiences. This included the gift shop which was located at the right side of the museum. It was very well hidden from the outside, but accessible through the children’s play area. I interviewed shoppers regarding their shopping habits and ease of navigation at the gift shop. I interviewed 6 people at the museum and generated an online google survey which I shared with my fellow colleagues, family, and friends. I organized my data through Mural, an online platform for brainstorming, data synthesis, and online collaboration. I created 3 different affinity maps to organize my data from the museum, gift shop, and online shopping experience.
The purpose of this affinity map was to recognize trends and patterns within my data to better understand my target user. Insights from this map go as follows:
Museum contained historical artifacts and referenced political figures giving a sense of patriotism.
— the authenticity furthered engagement with the audience with audios & visuals
Exhibits and attractions provide and educational experience inspiring child-like curiosity.
— this induced feelings of nostalgia
Diverse attractions appealed to a large age demographic.
— families use educational games to both bond and stay engaged in a learning environment
Location of the museum associated it with the city.
— visitors purchased items for memorabilia and small gifts for loved ones (gifts were either comical/novelty or customized niche items)
Museum goers found the price point of extracurriculars and gift shop items to be overpriced.
These insights gave me a better understanding of what i wanted to express through the Adler’s website. I created design principles through these insights, to guide my design process.
Solutions should-
Include replicas of these which are sold in the store and demonstrate the historical value of these products through the online store.
Use images to depict important events that followed the construction of the museum.
Solutions should-
Aware consumers that proceeds from the online gift shop goes to supporting scientific research and further education to continue impacting the next generation of space explorers.
Solutions should-
Emphasize the importance of educational games as means for improving productivity and mental stimulation for children.
Solutions should-
Explain the benefits of the membership program
Inform prospective members of any discounts pertaining to gift shop items.
Information Architecture.
Following my data synthesis, I needed to figure out how my website will help users navigate with ease. I used card sorting to help me categorize products within my online gift shop. I used 6 friends of mine who were glad to help me with this task. Of course I has to bribe them with pizza, but if you ask me….it’s a small price to pay. After all, it’s in the name of science.
Once I obtained all the data I needed, I began creating the “skeleton” for my website. Based on all of my information and understanding my user’s needs, I created a user flow that helped me map out the entire checkout process. I sketched my user flow on cardboard paper and a marker, because I found that it was quicker and easier than using a digital platform.
Yes I know, it seems like chicken scratch right? Well, this “chicken scratch” gave me a brief overview of the checkout process which led me to the following step.
Wireframes
One of my favorite parts of the design process was sketching a low-fidelity prototype of the website. If there’s one thing Iv’e learned in my few weeks of being a UX designer, is that sketching will be the quickest and most cost effective way to bring my ideas to life. Here’s a snippet of my wireframes.
Disclamer: I am not an artist by trade so be gentle…
These sketches might look like a 5th grader doodled them, but they hold very valuable information about the organization of my design. It was a tough call to judge all my concepts considering I made them. Upon further review, I chose contestant number 5 (middle one from the bottom page). Soon after, I elaborated on this concept and gave it some more care and attention.
Okay, so these look better right? Yes, I couldn’t agree more. This started making more sense to me. I began seeing the bigger picture and seeing my design grow up right before my very own eyes! But wait folks! that’s not all…. I then designed a mid-fidelity prototype using Sketch, a design software used to create and prototype projects. It’s my favorite design tool due to its intuitive nature. I designed these mid-fidelity prototypes:
Ahh, don’t you love the smell of fresh prototypes? Ok, it’s just me then.
User Testing
And now, the moment of truth, user testing. This is when you put everything on the line and test your product. I chose to test it with 6 people with varying technological literacies. I wanted to start with the least tech savvy and work my way up to the big fish. Similar to any fighting arcade game out there *ahem, Mortal Kombat*.
Maria was my first test subject. She is 48 years of age and rarely uses the computer. Probably because she does not own one. Luckily I was able to help out with that. She seemed to navigate through the prototype with ease. I moderated the test by giving her 5 tasks: Find a product, check reviews, checkout, get to the membership page, and finally navigate between the product categories. She was able to complete all the tasks prompted. Luckily, I did not have to buy her pizza as my research fund was running low.
Justin was my second user test subject. He is 37 years of age and is a personal trainer who frequently uses software to manage his client base. I went ahead and chose him due to his high-level tech literacy. I was feeling pretty confident about my last test subject so I decided to tackle a more advanced user. As hypothesized, Justin was able to navigate proficiently through the site and passed my prompted test objectives. At this point, I asked myself if I should continue testing, since I felt ready to get started on the final product. But two test subjects were not enough for me to proceed with finalizing the design.
Matt is a 26 year old firefighter who rarely goes online. He usually has his wife do the online shopping. He’s more of a “hands-on” type of guy. As with my previous tests subjects, he passed my navigational tests.
At this point, I was fighting the urge to proceed with the final design. I fought every urge possible and thought to myself, what would Max Adler do? After a quick self pep talk, I continued user testing. I called upon Rance, a 56 year old business man who spends most of his time playing indoor golf and watching episodes of “Highlander”. To my surprise, he passed half of my tests!!! His pain points included: Navigating through the payment confirmation page, delivery method, and finding the membership page. I realized that the link to the membership page was not visible as it was a grey box. I failed to create a delivery method on the payment page and failed to create a “same as shipping information” box which would facilitate his interaction with the prototype. This was enlightening to me as I thought I had it all figured out. I made the necessary changes and finally proceeded with my last test subject.
Alex is 26 year old student at Morton College who is studying psychology. He possesses mid-level tech literacy. As with my previous test subjects, I prompted tasks and he was able to navigate expertly.
Final Product
Finally! I made it. The winner’s circle. The place where all designers can breathe a breath of fresh air. I had come a long way since my initial visit to the Adler. I designed my final product using Sketch (surprise, surprise). With just a couple images, some font, and a little bit of Guillermo magic, I created my first website.
Beautiful isn’t it? *Wipes tear from cheek*. I finally finished my design. I was very happy with the finalized website. I used hotspots to link areas of interactivity. This gave the website navigational capabilities. I must say, not bad for my first website. I am aware that in my design journey, I will obtain more design skills. This notion further excited my willingness to learn more about UX design.
Conclusion
It has been a nostalgic experience designing this website. The research that was done reminded me of wanting to be an astronaut as a kid. It’s been 10 years since I have stepped foot into the planetarium. I lost sight of the wonders our universe holds. This website design has rekindled my love for space, and woke a part of me that was dormant throughout the years. If there’s one thing I learned through this design experience, it is that some things you never outgrow. I would like to give a very special thank you to Max Adler for creating this wonderful museum. It has educated and captivated the imagination of many people and continues to inspire a new generation of explorers. In the name of science…..
Stay curious folks!
