Translating User Needs and Content for MoMA Learning
I worked with Beth Harris and her team at MoMA to discover and develop the concept and information architecture for a new education microsite.
Homepage Wireframe
The education team was interested in revamping their teacher-specific print resources to make them accessible to any audience online. In Beth’s words, the new site “shouldn’t feel like you walked into the wrong bathroom.” It should be equally interesting and engaging for teachers, students, and modern art enthusiasts.
The education team started putting their ideas into wireframes and quickly realized each of the five team members had different ideas about what a new educational site could be. In our first meeting together I led the team through a series of workshop-style exercises to discover the ideas each person had in mind. In our very first conversation we discussed the project’s constraints – it turned out there were very few – and talked through a couple user scenarios. How would a high school student benefit from the site? How would a teacher use it? What would an enthusiast expect to find?
We started with a strong concept of understanding and addressing each user’s needs. The “wrong bathroom” concept was translated into information architecture throughout the site, starting with the search and browse functions. The site’s primary navigation supports targeted search behavior as well as less active browsing behavior.
Similarly, each page was designed to foster levels of engagement, keeping quick, unexpected content at the top to draw in a reader who may not know what she’s looking for. The site also boasts a comprehensive toolkit for teachers, who may be more focused in their visit and simply looking for the right resource.
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