2026
THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM
A responsive redesign for The Morgan Library & Museum, optimized to boost visitor engagement across mobile and desktop.
Timeline
16 weeks
platform
Web and Mobile
Role
UX Designer
team
Avani chandorkar, Ammara Fatima, Mandy Chiang, Haley Horton
UX Research/Design
Information Architecture
About this project
Overview
Our team set out to redesign the Morgan Library & Museum website with the goal of improving usability for this content-rich site and better aligning the experience with evolving user behaviors in online information seeking.
The redesign process involved conducting user research, reworking the site’s information architecture, and developing and testing mid-fidelity prototypes to evaluate proposed solutions.
The Problem With the Current Website
Information overload: The site has become text-heavy, making pages difficult to scan and increasing cognitive load for users.
Lack of clear hierarchy and navigation: Important content is often buried, and the information architecture does not clearly prioritize user needs.
User interviews
To learn more about our target group, we conducted 9 user interviews.
For these interviews, instead of their experience of current Morgan library website, we focus on Visitor motivations and experiences, Planning behaviors before visit a museum and their Digital habits with museum websites.
Using affinity diagramming, we synthesized interview findings and identified several recurring patterns.
Persona
Based on these insights, we developed user personas to guide subsequent design decisions.
Competitive Analysis
To better understand the current design space, we conducted a competitive analysis of 8 websites*.
*Including 6 direct competitors and 2 indirect competitors.)
Prior to analysis, we developed a three-point scoring rubric and evaluated each site across 8 key dimensions.
Navigation
Mobile Friendly
Home Page
Organization
Visual Design
Updated
Ticketing
Link & Labels
This analysis revealed several insights that informed our design direction.
01
Homepage layout
Effective museum websites prioritize clean homepage layouts with strong visual hierarchy, using large imagery and concise text. Prominent “Plan a Visit” calls to action are easily accessible and visible to users.
02
Visual design
Consistent typography, color usage, and visual hierarchy improve readability and accessibility. Successful sites strike a balance between visual elements and text while maintaining clear emphasis through contrast.
04
Navigation and labeling
Navigation should be simple and intuitive without having the user to click through a lot of CTAs. Similar information should be grouped together to find relevant information in the same section.
Card Sorting
To better understand users’ mental models and how they categorize information, we conducted an open card sorting exercise.
Labels from the existing Morgan Library & Museum website were consolidated into 50 representative cards. 8 participants grouped these cards into categories they felt were most appropriate, providing insight into how users expected content to be organized.
Based on the card sorting results, we reorganized the site’s information structure and developed an initial sitemap.
Tree Testing
Next, we used this sitemap to conduct a tree testing study.
A tree testing study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed information architecture by measuring how easily users could locate specific information and identifying areas for further improvement.
Based on insights from user interviews, we created 8 key tasks that reflected users’ primary goals. Participants were asked to navigate the sitemap to locate specific sections based on these tasks. A total of 9 participants took part in the study.
This study helped us identify areas within the sitemap that caused confusion or lack of clarity for users.
01
Separating Event Calendar and Event Information confused users.
02
Users searched for Coat & Bag Check information under Plan Your Visit.
03
The Visitor Museum Map was nested too deeply, leading to indirect navigation.
04
The Museum Archives section was buried too deep, making it difficult to locate. 7 out of 9 participants expected Museum Archives to appear under Exhibits.
The final sitemap
Using all findings collected so far, we developed the final sitemap for the redesigned website.
How do we start usability testing
Before develop prototypes, we identified 2 key user flows based on insights from user interviews.
Task 1
Purchase a Student Ticket
Why we chose this task
Users frequently visit museum websites to check ticket prices, and many prefer to purchase tickets in advance through the official website.
Task 2
Register for an Event
Why we chose this task
Users often visit the website to review detailed exhibition and event information, and many want to register in advance to avoid missing events.
Next, we developed prototypes and conducted usability testing.
We translated our wireframes into fully interactive desktop and mobile prototypes, allowing users to click, navigate, and complete tasks as if using a functional website. In total, we conducted 6 usability tests. The goal was to identify points of confusion, hesitation, and how well the navigation structure aligned with user expectations.
What we found from usability testing
Here are the key insights and feedback from usability testing.
01
Text clarity and visual emphasis are as important as placement.
Free Friday information on Homepage is not visually prominent enough; users did not notice that it was free at first glance.
02
The event calendar contains too much text and lacks clear visual cues for scanning.
The event calendar feels dense and text-heavy, making it difficult for users to quickly scan.
03
The ticket booking flow is functional but causes confusion at several steps, and the desktop and mobile experiences are inconsistent.
Participant 1 “The cart feels unnecessary at this stage.”
04
Users need complete and immediately visible information to make confident decisions.
Pricing information was missing from the event details page, causing users to hesitate before deciding.
High-fidelity prototypes were then created based on insights and feedback from usability testing.
A Sneak Peek into the Hi-fi Prototype
Design Highlights
Plan Your Visit page
Quick Access Within Plan Your Visit
Research from interviews, card sorting, and tree testing revealed that users expected most practical information to live under Plan Your Visit. To reduce excessive scrolling and improve efficiency, scroll-to-CTA buttons move users directly to relevant sections within the page.
Plan Your Visit page
Neighborhood Highlights for Trip Planning
During interviews, users suggested including nearby food and attractions to help plan their day around the museum. Competitive analysis showed similar features on peer museum websites, reinforcing the value of integrating neighborhood highlights.
Events Calander page
Centralized and Interactive Events Calendar
The events calendar was redesigned as a single, centralized location for all museum activities, including exhibitions, events, workshops, and professional development. Event details open in pop-ups or drawer-style panels instead of navigating users away from the page. The calendar also includes filters and views by day, week, and month. Imagery is incorporated to support scanning behavior, as usability testing showed that users often rely on images to filter options before reading detailed content.
Clear Event Detail Layout
The event detail layout improves clarity through typographic hierarchy and presents full event information in a structured, easy-to-scan format, allowing users to quickly understand key details without feeling overwhelmed.
Homepage
Highlighting Free Friday Access
A sticky banner emphasizes “Free Friday” time slots and provides a direct link for users to register, making free admission opportunities highly visible and easy to access.
Next Steps
Biggest challenge
One of the biggest challenges was managing and synthesizing a large volume of research data. We needed to continuously distill insights into clear priorities that could directly inform design decisions.
If we had more time
With more time, we would expand the scope beyond visitor-focused needs. While this project prioritized visitors, the Morgan also supports academic and research use cases. Future work could explore how researchers and scholars navigate the site’s collections and resources, and how those needs might shape the information architecture and page design.
Team collaboration
Collaborating on a shared prototype while maintaining consistency across screens is an area we still need to strengthen. When multiple designers contribute simultaneously, small differences in spacing, component styles, and layout details can emerge. Establishing clearer shared standards (e.g., a component library and spacing guidelines) would improve consistency and polish.