MoMath

I was tasked with improving the National Museum of Mathematic’s internal guest management website to make the process of checking in guests smoother for employees during an event.

The problem

The National Museum of Mathematics prides itself in holding many events for guests of all ages - from after school math programs for middle schoolers, puzzle nights for adults, to galas for donors and patrons. A recurring issue amongst employees working at these events was the lack of an efficient platform available to check in guests and note down information about walk in guests.

The Solution

The solution started with an audit of the current platform used and revamping its interface and functions through user research and testing to create a simple and efficient way for employees to manage guests.

RESEARCH

We spoke to employees and the tech team who often work in person at the museum’s events, and the major issues they come across are:

  1. Employees had to write down walk in guest information by hand, this resulted in difficulty reading important information like the guests' name and email.

  2. There was no way to find out whether a guest had already been checked in by another employee.

  3. Lack of a platform where employees could get information on guests who had already signed up for an event.

We followed up our research with a brainstorming session, sketching out ideas, user flows, and a potential site map.

IDEATION

After sketching out possible solutions, we created user flows on FigJam for every task the user needed to complete. We also thought it would be important for the user in charge of the event to be able to activate and deactivate an event, due to the large number of employees and volunteers that would be using the platform at the same time.

Task: Activate Event

Task: Add Guest

WIREFRAMES

After mapping out the user flows, I created wireframes that could be tested on a user before create the final high fidelity prototype.

USER TESTING

The low fidelity prototype was tested on 2 users, they were asked to activate and deactivate an event, check users in, and add a walk in guest. They were also asked to describe what they thought the “Users” and “Feed” buttons meant. We found that they had a good understanding of what to expect when selecting these options. The 2 main issues we discovered were:

  1. Users did not understand what the “yes” and “no” meant under the “Additional Info” column.

  2. The plus icon was confusing for users, they did not know whether it meant to upload or add data from Civi (CRM software) or to add a walk in guest. The appropriate changes were made below.

HIGH FIDELITY Screens

REFLECTION

The biggest takeaway from this project was realizing the importance of setting goals and a timeline. Understanding not only who your users are but what they are trying to achieve and breaking them down into tasks can help guide the project when things get messy or confusing (they oftentimes do). Checking in with team members is important too, getting feedback and second opinions can provide a new perspective or solution.

Let’s Chat.