Post 01: Preliminary Research

When I visited Ferens Art Gallery, most other visitors moved against the walls of each room as most of the artwork was on all of the walls and rarely in the centre which created a slight bit of congestion when others caught up and therefore made it take longer to view the art. This could be avoided with an app page that shows all artworks and their locations within the art museum as I also noticed that visitors to the museum walked around aimlessly while taking in the art which made it clear they had no route to follow. With a page showing the artworks and their location, this hassle could be avoided by making it possible for visitors to plan before even arriving and therefore giving them the option to make a path between the artworks they came to see. The information on the artworks and the artists are shown on a small plaque which could be possibly hard to see if a visitor had visual impairment or was the older side of the age demographic which is not only possible but likely as when I visited the art museum, many other visitors had to lean close to the plaque to read it. This problem could be fixed with a page showing information on each artwork and because its on a phone the user could easily zoom in if the text was still too small to read instead of having to lean close to the plaque and potentially block the view for other visitors. Despite the art museum not being very big, the signs for the rooms are quite vague and I can see how it could be difficult to find a specific artwork if you was looking for one. This could also be solved by having a page that tells the user what room any painting is in instead of them having to guess and potentially wasting their time if their wrong or causing a hassle for other visitors who are actually trying to look in the mistaken room. When I was walking around I didn’t see any information about events or workshops at all despite having a thorough look around which could become a frustration of any visitors who came to the museum with the sole purpose of attending an event or something similar. An events tab could remedy this problem and make it easier for museum staff to keep on top of the most recent activities if they change frequently. I do think that the openness of the rooms aided the other visitors navigation in the museum as the entire room was visible from any position so all paintings could be spotted easily once you entered which could help in planning a route around. I also think the seating in every room is a helpful addition as some people might want to stay and admire or research a certain painting while others might want to just have a glance before passing by and seating gives enough room for both parties to do as they please.