Designing Museum Experiences (DME) Process

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The Designing Museum Experiences (DME) process follows the five-part design thinking methodology of Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. Each of the five stages of museum experience creation has a specialized tool and template for designing inclusive museum experiences.

01 EMPATHIZE Identify your user(s). What are their thoughts? Their emotions? How do they make decisions?

1. Audience Research
2. Front-End Evaluation
3. Empathy Mapping
4. Personas
5. Theory of Change Canvas
6. Positionality

02 DEFINE What is the change you want to create? Fundraising? Increase attendance? Community impact? Define the goals for visitors/users.

1. Stakeholder Analysis
2. Audience Segmentation
3. Project Brief
4. Lean Canvas
5. Museum Cycle Canvas (Pre-visit, Visit, Post Visit, Return)
6. Value Proposition Canvas

03 IDEATE means to “form an idea or conception of.” As you ideate, try to think without restrictions and create solutions called “what ifs.”