MuseAR
AR · Museum experience · Personalization
MuseAR
MY ROLE
Product Designer
TECHNOLOGIES
Figma, Snapchat Lens
TIMELINE
March 2025 – May 2025
NAVIGATION TOOL
Your AR Map for the next museum visit
CONTEXT
New York City boasts a vibrant and diverse cultural landscape, with over 170 museums spread across its five boroughs. At major museums like The Met and MoMA, visitors spend just 17 to 27 seconds on average viewing each artwork.
CHALLENGE
Engagement drops significantly after 30–45 minutes, often due to fatigue and lack of direction.
SOLUTION
MuseAR, a location-based AR navigation system that provides personalized recommendations and breaks to recoup and make the most of the museum experience.
The Landscape
New York City has over 170 museums. At the major ones like The Met and MoMA, visitors spend an average of 17 to 27 seconds looking at each artwork. Engagement drops significantly after 30 to 45 minutes, often due to fatigue and lack of direction. Museums rarely offer dynamic navigation, and few tools adapt to a visitor's pace, mood, or changing interests throughout a visit. The result: people leave having missed the things they would have loved, exhausted by the things they didn't.
Understanding behaviors
I ran passive field observations at three major NYC museums, watching how visitors interacted with signage, layout, and both digital and static elements. Then I recruited five participants for semi-structured interviews to understand how people plan, navigate, and remember museum visits. The goal wasn't just to document fatigue: it was to understand the behavioral patterns that lead to it, and where the opportunity for intervention actually sits in a visit.
Key findings
Four patterns emerged that shaped everything that came after. Visitors weren't failing to engage: they were overwhelmed by the decision of what to engage with. The ones who had the best experiences were the ones who came in with an anchor: a specific piece they wanted to see.
The worst experiences came from trying to see everything with no filter.
Cognitive Overload
Excessive information and confusing navigation lead to mental exhaustion, reducing engagement and enjoyment.
Anchor-Based Navigation
Visitors plan trips around specific "must-see" pieces, then shift to free exploration after completing their primary goals.
Documentation vs. Presence
Visitors rely on photos/videos as memory aids, often at the expense of in-the-moment absorption.
AR Awareness
High awareness of AR technology but minimal hands-on museum experience; participants expressed curiosity and willingness to try.
Problem Statement
Museum visitors struggle to maintain meaningful engagement with artworks that resonate with them, often moving past pieces they love without any tangible way to preserve the emotional connection or revisit the experience beyond a quick photo.
Early directions
Initial Concept: An AR Gallery designed so that when visitors encounter exhibits that resonate with them, they can collect a 3D model, creating a personal digital memory of the experience they can revisit later. This aimed to tackle the documentation vs. presence problem by preserving a piece of their memory in a fun digital collective.
Shortcomings
Technical Constraints with Augmented Reality
AR tracking proved unreliable in crowded museum spaces with inconsistent lighting and varied phone hardware, limiting accessibility and functionality.
Content Overload, Not Cognitive Relief
While the concept added novelty and interactivity, it didn't help alleviate museum fatigue. Instead, it layered on more content without changing the physical or mental pace of the visit.
Redirected Problem Statement
"Museum visitors struggle to maintain meaningful engagement with artworks that resonate with them, often moving past pieces they love without any tangible way to preserve the emotional connection or revisit the experience beyond a quick photo."
"How can we aid museum visitors in navigating the museum and tailor it to their interests while curbing museum fatigue?"
The shift
The post-visit reflection tool created a fun and engaging interaction, but testing revealed it addressed the experience too late. Visitors' biggest pain points occurred during the visit itself, where fatigue, decision overload, and uncertainty about what to see next had the greatest impact on engagement.
New Solution
Based on visitor's preferences when they scan an exhibit, the ML-powered system provides real-time directions to similar or thematically related exhibits, helping visitors discover more of what they enjoy without wasting energy or time.
Why does this make sense?
- Minimizes cognitive load with simple "like" interactions
- Guides visitors to related artworks for personalized discovery
- Encourages deeper engagement through thematic connections
- Reduces decision fatigue with smart, intuitive navigation
Design
The final solution was an ML-powered navigation system triggered by a simple interaction: when visitors scan an exhibit they enjoy, the system provides real-time directions to similar or thematically related works nearby. The interface was deliberately minimal: a "like" button, a direction, a reason. No collection screens, no AR overlays, no content layers. The technology receded so the museum experience could stay in focus.
Impact
Visitors stayed focused on the experience, not the navigation
Testing showed that participants were able to move between exhibits with minimal distraction, allowing them to remain immersed in the artwork rather than repeatedly stopping to reorient themselves within the museum.
Recommendations increased meaningful engagement
By surfacing exhibits aligned with visitors' interests, participants spent more time engaging with artworks they genuinely enjoyed instead of skimming exhibits that felt less relevant to them.
Reduced cognitive load in complex environments
Navigating large, crowded museum spaces can be mentally taxing. The AR guidance system reduced the effort required to decide where to go next, helping visitors conserve energy and maintain engagement throughout their visit.
Reflection
Issues with AR development
Custom AR experiences tied to physical locations often fail to trigger accurately. This was an issue that did not let me fully implement the features I was going for real time in Lens Studio. So I decided to use it for minimal interaction testing and continue with a Figma prototype.
Understanding when to pivot
The post-visit reflection tool made sense conceptually, but when tested in real scenarios, it didn't address the urgent need for guidance during the visit. So, I switched to designing and problem solving for the moment when help was actually needed.