The National Museum of American History (NMAH) is part of the Smithsonian Institution and collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States.
Opportunity
The retelling of American history often overlooks the harsh realities of our past. With the migration of its current site to Drupal 9, NMAH aims to create a more diverse and inclusive experience by welcoming a broad audience.
Results and Impact
I collaborated with another designer, a digital strategist, a project manager, and development team to redesign the website experience.
We created more tailored pathways for the different user groups and reworked the information architecture to better highlight diverse cultures and stories.
The client was confident that the updated Drupal site furthered their vision of becoming the country’s most accessible, inclusive, and sustainable public history institution.
DEFINING GOALS
What Do Stakeholders Envision for the Site?
The migration to an updated Drupal system provided an opportunity to improve the website’s user experience.
To strategize the redesign direction, we wanted to understand stakeholders’ satisfaction with the site and how it aims to contribute to the organization’s 2030 strategic goals.
We designed a survey, answered by 80 staff across departments, and found no clear consensus on what they wanted the new site to accomplish.
So to create clear alignment on our goals, we conduct 8 focus groups with 31 stakeholders to define requirements based on common pain points.
RESEARCH
How Should Our Users Be Segmented?
We determined that the stakeholders lacked a clear understanding of who their user groups were, so we set out to understand users’ current site experience and identify the content they need.
Conducting a workshop with 12 key staff helped us define our user segmentation and note down assumptions and questions to address during interviews.
“I prioritize looking for voices that aren’t always represented in history textbooks; this is a way to supplement more of the white European focus”
-Educator
Validating the Primary User Groups
To build out user group personas, we interviewed 6 individuals, which included history enthusiasts, researchers, educators, and those familiar with NMAH. We prioritized diverse perspectives by including participants from underserved communities, such as a screen reader user and someone from an underrepresented cultural group. With these insights, we understood what needs the site failed to meet.
Key Insights
MAKING DECISIONS
What Are Our Design Priorities?
After synthesizing our findings from the research phase and cross-checking them with our business goals, we prioritized areas of the site that needed improvement. We knew that visitors, educators, and researchers have content needs that range from high-level concepts to detailed metadata.
- Highlight diverse voices and stories.
- Structure content that has different levels of complexity to provide clear entry points for visitors, educators, and researchers, while cross-linking content to encourage exploration.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
How Do We Provide Distinct Paths to Content?
The vague user group definitions were reflected in the site’s structure, so we reworked it to help users find what they need quickly and encourage exploration.
Most of the content was buried under "Explore History," so we reorganized it by breaking it out for the three main user groups and moving it up to the top-level navigation.
We kept “Explore” as a way to connect all content and guide users toward more specific information based on their needs.
We also collaborated closely with the client team and conducted secondary research to refine the topic taxonomy, aligning it with NMAH’s collections and exhibitions while adding new topics that highlight underrepresented cultures and lesser-known historical content.
A secondary nav was added to bring awareness to these topics and motivate users to learn something new.
DESIGN
What is the Solution?
We designed wireframes for key pages to serve as guides for the new site. We used atomic design to ensure the site is responsive and scalable. I wrote component guidelines so client can update content efficiently while maintaining consistent design patterns.
Welcoming Diversity
Redesigned the homepage to be more welcoming and uplift stories and topics of underrepresented groups.
Each month, the staff can change the theme to bring awareness to other overlooked groups and subjects.
All topics have related objects and classroom resources to provide pathways for educators and researchers.
Facilitating Research and Exploration
We took the opportunity to add an explore page to provide a quick and easy way to find something of interest and improved upon the topic pages to include all relevant information, both interpretive and basic information like objects and archives.
Users now can see the timeline of the topic, influential people who contributed to that topic, and how this history has impacted us today.
Prominent Visit Information
We improved the visit pages and exhibit pages. Important basic information like hours and fees are located at the top and exhibits and events that are available that day are prominently displayed so users don’t have to spend time searching.
Exhibit pages now include information about the collections that can be seen in person and additional digital-only content for visitors who want to learn more about what they saw in the museum and for researchers to have all related information to dig deeper into a topic.
Educators’ Search
Classroom resources are now easier to search for and users can filter by type of resource, grade level, reading level, topic, subject, and historical era.
Each resource is structured like a guide that explains how to use the resource, interpretive information on objects, and how it fits in with the national curriculum.
This hub of information allows educators to quickly and easily use resources for discussions and lesson plans.
HANDOFF
How Can I Support my Team Members?
We collaborated closely with the visual designer to translate our wireframes into visually engaging mockups. We maintained accessibility standards by ensuring elements like the appropriate color contrast, touch element size, clear hierarchy, and label names were used.
Reflection
Challenges
Presenting the true history of the U.S. while ensuring an inclusive experience is a long-term goal shaped by societal perspectives, making this project especially daunting. After multiple homepage iterations, I realized finding the best method of storytelling will be an ongoing process.
The site is rich with information that reflects the museum’s exhibits and collections and includes original online content. In response to the COVID pandemic, NMAH aimed to expand its digital presence. Through this project, I learned how to effectively structure and organize a complex site.
What If…
We were not scoped for usability tests but it would have been really valuable to address potential usability and information architecture issues to avoid any significant points of friction users may face with the new experience.
It would have been valuable to visit the museum in person to interview visitors and observe how physical content translates to the online experience. I think if the in-person and digital experiences don’t encourage exploration across both spaces, the online content risks existing in a silo, no matter how well it's designed.
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