Museum of Science and Industry
Understanding the Parent-Child dyad to improve the museum experience
2022
Design Research
The
Brief
The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has a clear mission:
“To build public understanding of science, show how science impacts our society and inspire everyone to think critically about the world around us.”
But the pandemic and subsequent lock downs had a major impact on MSI’s attendance. Only 300,000 visited in 2020. 50,000 of those were students on field trips. Page views were down as well (26 million in 2019 to 10 million in 2020). On the flip side, MSI hosted 2.2 million individual virtual visitors. November 2020 marked the launch of the Learning Resources virtual hub.
As a museum, MSI faced the challenge of staying relevant as learning and education are increasingly online/digital/virtual.
Research
Survey
The first step was a survey of 45 participants, to understand people's impressions of MSI, what they were interested in and what they expected to see at a museum dedicated to science and industry.
Interviews and In-Home Ethnography
As many of MSI's exhibits and marketing efforts focused on children, the next step was to interview parents and children in their homes, to understand their contexts, and the decision making process behind choosing to visit a museum.
Card Sort
A major tension that was identified was between deciding which exhibits were educational and which ones were purely for entertainment. Another factor in the decision making process was deciding which exhibits were meant for children, and would appeal to a specific age group.
To learn more, a card sort exercise was used, with a variety of different images of exhibits, with participants being asked to map them across two axes:
Purely Education vs. Purely Entertainment
Meant for Adults vs. Meant for Children
User Persona
Creating a User persona for a children focused museum is a challenge, as the experience needs to appeal to children as well as parents.
Children often want interactive, playful experiences, that engage their senses, while parents often want more educational experiences.
Decision Making Process
Breaking down the decision making process to understand what factors go in to choosing one weekend activity over another.
The question that needs to be answered (every week) is always “What should we do this weekend?”.
The process usually begins with an online search, (but occasionally with a recommendation from a friend), but then goes through a series of steps, before coming up with a short list of options. The parents provide the options, but the child always makes the final decision.
As so much of the decision making (and the “Entice” portion of the experience) is handled by parents, there may be an opportunity to get children excited about the museum by engaging them earlier in the process.
Journey Map
Analyzing the customer journey from the time the decision is made till exiting the museum.
We can see that the museum itself does a good job of keeping children engaged, which in turn keeps parents happy.
But there’s a steep drop-off after the exit and there’s very little extension of experience.
Competition Analysis
MSI’s exhibits are able to find a good balance between education and entertainment, especially when compared to other museums.
But if we look back at the MSI’s mission of building public understanding of science, there’s a whole host of toys, apps and services that perform the same function.
The quality of education varies, and the level of interaction is lower, but they’re all more accessible than a museum.
Brand Extensions
Learning Lab
MSI has tried online activities in the past, but they’re limited, with the website being aimed more at parents and school teachers.
Only 7 Learning Lab Challenges
Gift Shop
And while MSI has a gift shop (and an online equivalent), most of the toys and books are available elsewhere.
The 17 “Science” gifts include T-shirts and Socks
“I’d like something that can provide my kids the museum experience in everyday life”
No matter how good the museum is (or becomes), a museum will always be an occasional visit, even for families with young children.
There’s a major space to reframe the “Extend” part of the museum, which in turn will set it apart from other Chicagoland museums and attractions.
So how can MSI Extend the experience beyond the museum walls?
Bringing MSI home
Teaming up with artists and illustrators could give MSI a unique gift shop, and the ability to take a part of MSI home.
MSI x Kelli Anderson
MSI x Artery Ink
MSI x Mathew Reinhart
Beyond the Museum Walls
Collaborating with larger brands such as Nintendo, Sphero and Foldscope will give the MSI an opportunity to reach children far beyond the Chicago area.
MSI x Nintendo
MSI x Lego
MSI x Foldscope
“I loved it. I have my first memories of being excited about science stuff there.”