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Roles/ Responsibilities

Timeline

Team

Musense

Supporting adults with Autism in the museum space

UX Case Study

UX Researcher:

Defined research objectives and problem space
Interviewed users to gain insight into key pain points
Analyzed data and synthesized insights
Translated findings into design implications

Aug 2022-Dec 2022

-Class Project

2 UX Designs

2 UX Researchers

Problem Statement

While museums offer accessibility resources, there is limited understanding of how adults with Autism perceive museum environments, discover accessibility information, and prepare for visits.

This project addressed that gap by identifying patterns in how environmental and informational factors shape museum experiences.

Research Objectives

Understand how adults with Autism perceive museum environments
Measure awareness and usage of existing museum accessibility resources
Identify factors influencing comfort, anxiety, and preparedness
Use insights to inform accessible, user-centered solutions

The Process

Surveys

Cognitive Walkthrough

Semi-structured interviews

Affinity Mapping

Design Requirements

Concept Sketching

Brainstorming Workshop

Contextualization

Literature Review

Evaluation

Design

Research

Analysis

Define

Ideation

Wireframes

Mid-Fi Prototype

Heuristic Evaluations

User Testing

Quantitative Research

Observations

39%

Visited museums by themselves

68%

Prepped for a trip to a museum

25%

Felt anxiety due to breaking their routine by visiting a musuem

69%

Experienced anxiety because of crowds in museums

46%

Overwhelmed due to loud sounds in the museum space

I led a quantitative study focused on adults (18+) with Autism, developing a survey to evaluate awareness, usage, and perceptions of current museum resources. I implemented screener questions to recruit participants who self-identified as having Autism, ensuring alignment with the study’s target population.

Qualitative Research

Contextualize participant-reported experiences and informed a more holistic understanding of how environmental and informational factors impact museum visits.

The Why:

To better understand the end-to-end museum experience, I conducted a cognitive walkthrough by visiting local museums, including the High Museum of Art and the Paper Museum.

Cognitive Walkthrough

Used an affinity map to organize insights into major themes

Explore how adults with Autism describe their interactions with museum environments, including sources of uncertainty, sensory considerations, and preparation strategies.

I conducted semi-structured interviews with target users to explore the context and emotions behind museum experiences.

Semi-Structured Interviews

The Why:

Key Insights

Pre-visit planning is essential for comfort and confidence

Why this matters:
Lack of clear, centralized pre-visit information increases anxiety and limits engagement. Supporting preparation is critical to reducing barriers before visitors ever enter the space.

Museum environments can be overwhelming due to sensory load

Why this matters:
High sensory input directly impacts willingness to engage and duration of visits, highlighting the need for design strategies that help visitors anticipate and regulate sensory exposure.A way to manage anxiety around others in a public environment

Existing sensory resources are often unknown or perceived as child-focused

Why this matters:
Accessibility resources that are not visible, discoverable, or age-appropriate risk going unused, reducing their overall effectiveness for adult visitors.

Many adults prefer solo, quiet museum experiences

Why this matters:
Museums are valued as spaces for focused, self-directed learning. Preserving and supporting quiet, low-stimulus experiences can increase accessibility without requiring major structural changes.

User Needs > Design Implications

Product Overview

Musense is a mobile site that provides information about sensory conditions at each museum, sensory accommodations, calendar views for Autism-friendly events, and a stress management support tool to help users manage anxiety in museums.

Research Outcomes

Museum Map

Musense loads in first on the Museums tab, allowing users to explore a pinned map or corresponding ordered list of nearby museums based on location data.

Users can tap on a pin, bringing up the card for that museum, or they can swipe to drag the list view up and select a museum card that way

Tap to learn more about a specific museum.

Research identified pre-visit uncertainty and sensory unpredictability as key barriers influencing museum engagement for adults with Autism. These insights shifted the solution focus toward pre-visit preparation, information transparency, and navigation support. The resulting design demonstrates how museums could improve accessibility by supporting preparedness without requiring significant physical changes.

Museum Features

Participants expressed low awareness of existing accessibility resources and noted that available information was often difficult to find or perceived as child-focused. This screen surfaces accessibility and sensory information in a clear format to improve discoverability and usability.

Through these cards, users can learn how many sensory rooms a museum has and where to find them, what the lighting conditions around the exhibits are, and what the usual order of operations for a visit looks like.

Accessibility Map

Interview data highlighted challenges locating exits and areas of relief during moments of overstimulation.

The Accessibility Map emphasizes navigation support through featuring a live floor map that can be filtered to show crowd densities, accessible routing, and sensory room locations.

Events

Users can also navigate to the “Events” tab to browse a calendar for sensory-friendly events hosted by museums. They can choose a day they are available, and a list of any scheduled events for that day will pop up, along with museum info, admission prices, and other details.

Informed by research highlighting the importance of pre-visit preparation to reduce uncertainty.

De-stress

This section serves as a stress relief aid to help users manage any anxiety attacks or other stress responses that they might experience from overstimulation at a museum. This feature provides a variety of options for stress management, tips for calming anxiety, and relaxing videos to help users escape from stressful situations.

Grounded in insights about sensory overload and the value of quiet, predictable experiences.

Key Takeaways

This project reinforced the importance of centering participant perspectives and avoiding assumptions in accessibility research. If continued, I would follow up with qualitative interviews and usability testing to validate whether the solution reduced anxiety as intended.

Museums