As a mid-weight UX designer, I worked with a product strategist to design and run user research activities, and a creative lead to define the visual style, design system, wireframes and high-fidelity mockups for the new British Museum website.

The British Museum website will be the main resource for British Museum visitors. It will provide access to a calendar of events and event details, basic information such as opening hours and directions, information on galleries and facilities, as well as specific portals with information for teachers, families and tour groups.

The project began with fieldwork to understand the motivations and desires of British Museum visitors. Working with a researcher, we wanted to find out what information visitors look for when deciding to visit the museum.

A survey was devised that would elicit information about a user’s journey, from their process of planning a trip to their journey through the museum.

We discovered that the website doesn’t need to do a lot to sell the British Museum. Most visitors are tourists, and so visiting the British Museum is a forgone conclusion.

What users really wanted, was to know details like what baby changing facilities are available and what the nearest public transport links are.

Many users also felt overwhelmed by the amount of things on display in the British Museum.

This became the focus of the website: a portal to help visitors plan their trip and make the most of their time at the museum.

Portals were created to cater to the specific user types we identified. These portals contained the exact information these users would need.

A journey planner was designed to show users what exhibitions and events were on during the duration of their trip, so they could plan their visit to the British Museum accordingly.

Templates were created for exhibition pages. These templates were designed to give the exhibitions a premium feel.

A design system was generated that would accommodate displays of all sizes.

Pages were designed to be modular, allowing users of the British Museum CMS easily update and create new pages.