Institute of Contemporary Art -Streamlined Art Membership
PROJECT TYPE
Case Study
ROLE
UX Designer
TIMELINE
8 Weeks
PLATFORM
Desktop
The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is a leading non-profit organization dedicated to showcasing cutting-edge contemporary art. As a pivotal cultural hub in Miami, it offers innovative exhibitions and programs that engage a global audience. Since admission to the museum is free, it is crucial for ICA Miami to garner support to continue its mission and impact.
As a team of User Experience Designers, we conducted a heuristic evaluation of the museum's website using Jakob Nielsen’s principles, such as error prevention, consistency, and flexibility. In this context, we specifically chose to analyze the user flow for becoming a member in support of the ICA. This framework helped us identify key issues, leading to significant improvements that resulted in a more intuitive, accessible, and aesthetically aligned website, ultimately enhancing the user experience and supporting ICA Miami’s growth
01 User Arrives on Site
Touchpoint: Homepage
Action: Hovers over ‘visit’ and clicks support
Help and Documentation
The Member FAQ was not accessible from the homepage footer, requiring users to scroll to the end of the Join page.
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We added the FAQ as a subsection under "Visit," making it easily accessible for both new and returning users seeking information about the museum. Placing it in the footer improves usability, as users expect to find it there, ensuring help is available early in the user journey.
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Aesthetic and Minimalist Design
Hovering over Art + Programs, Research, and Visit displayed all menu items from each category. This can overwhelm the user, as irrelevant information competes with the selected item, diminishing the visibility of the most relevant content.
We updated the design so that when hoveringover a menu bar category, only the relevant menu items for that category are displayed. We also added FAQ to the menu.
02 User Decides to Support ICA
Touchpoint: ICA Support and Membership
Action: Scrolls through ‘join’ and clicks on the $50 membership option
Consistency and Standards
‘Support’ on the navigation bar took the user to the Join page where the user is prompted to "Join Today." The titles caused the user confusion by disconnecting the page's initial intention.
To avoid confusion on the ICA Miami Support and Membership page, we changed the second "Join" from blue to black, making it clear that it's not clickable. We also updated the navigation bar title to match the page title for consistency.
Flexibility and Efficiency of Use
When becoming a member, users could not distinguish their preferred membership type, limiting their ability to tailor the experience to their needs.
We added a summary of all membership options at the top of the page, making it easy for users to identify their preferred type. The options were streamlined to fit on one screen for quick scanning, and we used the existing color palette and styling to maintain the brand. A comparison tool was also added to help users quickly understand the differences between options.
Aesthetic and Minimalist Design
The interface had too many colors and excessive text, causing confusion and diminishing the visibility of key information.
To improve readability on the membership images, we added a gradient layer, maintaining thewebsite's aesthetic. We also included an option to close the membership overview for a cleaner experience.
03 User Starts Membership Purchase
Touchpoint: Become a Sustaining Member Today
Action: Enters personal information
Error Prevention
Users did not have error prevention messageswhen signing up for a membership to. They can enter faulty personal information, including invalid email addresses, characters in numeric fields, and numbers in character fields.
We added a warning for email addresses that don't end in a standard top-level domain (e.g., .com, .org, .net). The phone number field now only accepts numbers, and the address field suggests addresses as users type, with other fields auto- populating based on their selection.
04 User Completes Membership Purchase
Touchpoint: Become a Sustaining Member Today
Action: Enters billing information
User Control and Freedom
A checkbox suggested that users could check or uncheck the option of covering the processing fee. As a result, users expected a price of $50.00 but were charged $51.50. Users should not be forced to pay more than the expected amount.
The default payment page will have processing fees unchecked, allowing users to opt in ifdesired.
