Enhancing the Singapore Story
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UXPM Cohort 9 Case Study — Creating an app for the National Museum of Singapore
Museums and Meaning
I’ve always had very positive associations with museums growing up. Picture a bespectacled nerdy 10 year old girl, eyes as big as saucers, walking through New York’s Museum of Natural History for the first time. I spent two hours just in the Ancient Egypt section. The Louvre was practically Disneyland! Museums tell us amazing stories of people who lived before, and they serve as a cautionary tale for us humans today. This fascination with museums stuck with me and even as an adult, 18 years later, they are one of my favourite places to visit.
Museums are defined as buildings in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited. They are meant to educate, inspire, and to create introspection. This is also what Singapore’s oldest museum, The National Museum of Singapore, aspires to do.
NSM Mission
The National Museum of Singapore’s mission statement states that it aims to highlight fresh perspectives of the Singapore story as they take you on an immersive voyage — one where creative storytelling redefines the conventional museum experience.
However, despite the museum’s goal of immersive experiences, they have a series of problems that hinder their progress towards a truly immersive experience, one where the digital meets the physical in a meaningful way.
The NSM Website & Chat Bot
A cursory glance through their website shows that it is meant to be a one-stop solution for literally any query you might possibly have regarding the museum. The footer alone is 4 feet long with a combination of mostly redundant and some broken links. The website is not designed to be used inside the museum.
