How to Develop Digital Wayfinding Strategies for Your Museum
It’s safe to say that if you’re going to get lost anywhere, perhaps a museum is the best place to go astray. However, at the core of any successful museum is a wayfinding system that’s designed to not only steer visitors in the right direction, but enhance their entire learning experience in the process.
Through custom digital wayfinding strategies, museums can both enlighten and guide their guests, eliminating any navigational confusion while increasing knowledge and awareness on any given subject. Digital wayfinding software can also provide visitors with a more personalized museum experience, granting them more independence to make their way around the premises, without having to bother staff members for directions.
But what is the recipe for creating customized digital wayfinding solutions that are designed to both enhance and enlighten the visitor experience? Let’s take a look at how museums can develop their own custom digital wayfinding strategies to better adhere to their guests’ needs.
Expand Knowledge
In addition to keeping guests on the right path, digital wayfinding signage displays can also work toward accentuating any displays, exhibits, or presentations, by providing more in-depth information to enlighten visitors to truly appreciate what they’re beholding. Implementing a healthy balance of navigational assistance and educational resources is an essential plan for any successful museum wayfinding strategy.
Mobile Synchronization
The rise of mobile application development has progressed exponentially in recent years, and this trend has specifically caught on within the museum industry. Esteemed institutions such as The Franklin Institute and the American Museum of Natural History have created their own mobile applications over the years, which allow users instant access to 3D mapping and custom wayfinding routing options, in addition to an array of accompanying information and descriptions on any highlighted exhibits.
With the average smartphone owner spending 92% of their time using apps on their mobile device, adding mobile synchronization to your digital wayfinding strategy is a trendy, efficient angle to ensure you’re appropriately accommodating a significant amount of your guests.
Emphasize Inclusivity
Perhaps the most important aspect of today’s digital wayfinding strategies is emphasizing more accessibility features that can accommodate your diverse audience. There are a variety of digital wayfinding solutions that will emphasize more inclusivity with your museum, such as:
● Voice recognition features
● Language or braille translations
● Emergency assistance contact options
● FAQ search bars
● Direct routing capabilities
The more accessible features you can incorporate into your digital wayfinding strategies, the more of an inviting environment your museum will embody.
Analyze Analytics
What digital wayfinding systems can offer that no physical signage designs can offer is access to a variety of insightful analytics that will inform managers exactly how users are engaging and utilizing their wayfinding designs. From being able to see which features and tools are most used on any digital wayfinding kiosk station to allowing users to provide immediate feedback, digital wayfinding systems are extremely resourceful when it comes to determining your overall ROI and user experience.
Enhance the Museum Experience with Oppna Digital
At the end of the day, doing whatever it takes to ensure every visitor to your museum is completely satisfied should be your top priority. At Oppna Digital, we have vast experience in helping museums implement and install custom digital wayfinding systems that are engineered to enhance everyone’s experience at your museum. When you need innovative wayfinding solutions, contact Oppna Digital today to request a demo of all of our services!