Illustrative engagement. A representative scenario showing how we approach this kind of work in culture & heritage. It does not describe a specific client; outcomes are described qualitatively.
Industry overview
What is shaping culture & heritage
Museums, festivals and heritage sites need to understand visitors, build new audiences and show the value of their work to funders and communities.
- Funders expect evidence of impact
- New audiences need different programming
- Heritage tourism depends on visitor experience
Client background
A national museum, working in Delhi. This is an illustrative engagement: a representative scenario showing how we approach this kind of work, not a named client project.
- Organisation
- A national museum
- Sector
- Culture & heritage
- Team engaged
- IT & Development
- Services
- Offline data collection (CAPI), Quantitative research
Client challenge
Visitor numbers were stable, but the museum suspected many people left before seeing its main galleries.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: understanding the visitor journey at a national museum.
- Define requirements and success criteria the solution would be tested against.
- Deliver a reliable, secure solution the team can run and extend.
Target audience
Scope: 1,500 visitors.
Audiences we typically reach in culture & heritage
VisitorsNon-visitors and new audiencesLocal communitiesArtists and performersFunders and partners
Geographic coverage
Coverage: Delhi. Market: India.
- India
Research methodology
An iterative delivery approach: discovery, design, build and test in short cycles, with the client reviewing each step.
- 1Brief
- 2Exit interviews
- 3Observation
- 4Insight
Interviewers spoke with visitors at exits in Hindi and English, and observers tracked routes through the galleries at different times of day.
Offline data collection (CAPI)Quantitative research
Sampling strategy
- Users and stakeholders from every affected team took part in discovery workshops and acceptance testing.
Data collection
- visitors
- 1,500
- Requirements were gathered through workshops, process walk-throughs and a review of existing systems and data.
Data quality & validation
- Peer code review on every change
- Automated and manual testing
- User-acceptance testing with the client
- Release checklist and rollback plan
Data analysis
- Usage and performance monitoring after launch
- Defect and support-ticket trends
- Process time before and after
Key findings
- Many visitors missed upper floors because signage was unclear.
If visitors can't find it, it doesn't exist.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: if visitors can't find it, it doesn't exist.
- Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: many visitors missed upper floors because signage was unclear.
- Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.
Business impact
- The museum redesigned wayfinding and added a suggested route.
What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.
Deliverables & next steps
- Insight report and management presentation
- Cleaned data file and data tables
- Deployed solution with documentation and handover
- Support and maintenance plan
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: what do visitors value?