A personalized museum companion that transforms how non-museum goers discover and experience cultural institutions, using behavioral science to match visitors with experiences that genuinely excite them.
Brief
Museums traditionally present themselves through a standardized lens, assuming visitors will actively seek out content that interests them. This approach fails to engage those who don’t see themselves as “museum people” who naturally don’t actively seek out new exhibits. This results in missed connections between such individuals and compelling content that would actually interest them.
Result
Powered by behavioral science and a sophisticated recommendation engine, Muse personalizes discovery by surfacing relevant exhibits that align strongly with each user’s content interests and preferred ways of experiencing museums. The platform learns from both stated preferences and observed behavior, much like how Spotify understands your music taste.
This is a speculative design project where I wore the following hats:
Design | Figma
Research Synthesis | Figjam, Google Docs
Repository | Notion
Timeline | March '24 - June '24
Team | 2 designers, 1 UX researcher, 1 museology researcher
Mentors | Ethelia Lung, Wren Tomelly, Adi Azulay
When people say “museums aren’t for me”, they’re often making this judgment without ever having found an exhibit that matches their interests.
Most people don’t actively decide not to visit museums — they simply default to not going. This is a classic example of what’s known as status quo bias — we tend to stick with our current habits unless given a compelling reason to change.
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Traditional museum marketing focuses on promoting specific exhibitions or collections. But our research shows this approach misses the underlying behavioral challenges.
Research brought up numerous insights into barriers faced by our target visitor, however, the true obstacle was preconceptions. The problem runs deeper than just lack of awareness. Our research identified three key behavioral barriers.
When faced with too many choices (multiple museums, countless exhibits, extensive information), people often choose not to choose at all
People form early impressions about whether they’re “museum people” or not. These self-perceptions become self-fulfilling prophecies.
Without clear connection to their interests, people assume museums won’t be engaging
When people say “museums aren’t for me”, they’re often making this judgment without ever having found an exhibit that matches their interests.
Most people don’t actively decide not to visit museums — they simply default to not going. This is a classic example of what’s known as status quo bias — we tend to stick with our current habits unless given a compelling reason to change.
