Natural History Museum

The Vision

Navigation with Purpose

The Natural History Museum is more than a building full of exhibits — it’s a gateway to discovery, curiosity, and lifelong learning. Our vision was to create a navigation system that mirrors this spirit: intuitive yet exploratory, informative yet inspiring.

We aimed for an experience that removes barriers and empowers every visitor, whether they are planning a family trip weeks in advance, a teacher preparing resources for a class, or a curious passer-by exploring on their phone while standing in the museum’s main hall. The navigation should feel alive — adapting to who you are, why you’ve come, and even when and where you’re visiting.

This vision wasn’t about making menus prettier; it was about reimagining navigation as a conversation starter, a guide, and a bridge between the visitor’s intent and the museum’s wealth of stories, collections, and opportunities to engage.

Our Approach

Break the map

We began by challenging assumptions. Using provocations such as “What if we killed navigation?” or “Can we use jobs and outcomes, not organisational structures, to guide visitors?”, we encouraged the team to break away from the gravitational pull of the current system.

We spoke to product owners to understand business priorities, reviewed competitors for fresh ideas, and defined guiding principles: focus on user intent, allow for exploration, maintain transparency, inspire wonder, and ensure accessibility and inclusivity for all visitors.

Our Approach

Build the Journey

Three prototype navigation concepts were created, each experimenting with different category structures, labelling approaches, and content prioritisation. These were tested with real visitors in the museum, capturing behavioural insights, moments of confusion, and moments of delight.

Our testing included participants with diverse abilities to ensure the navigation is truly accessible. By blending strategic thinking with rapid prototyping, rigorous user validation, and ongoing collaboration with NHM staff, we created a shared understanding across the team of what “better” could look like.

Goal

More Than a Menu

Our goal wasn’t just to “fix” navigation, but to redefine its role in the digital museum experience. We aimed to:

Empower users to find what they need easily, guided by insights from user research and behavioural analysis.

Expand discoverability of the museum’s content beyond the obvious touchpoints.

Adapt to context, recognising the different needs of visitors on-site vs. those planning from home.

Reflect the NHM brand with navigation that feels confident, warm, and inspiring.

Future-proof the system so it can evolve with new technology, behaviours, and priorities, guided by a clear digital roadmap.

The Execution

From Ideas to Tested Paths

The sprint began with lightning talks from stakeholders, giving us a clear view of challenges and opportunities. We then looked at competitive and adjacent industries, spotting patterns that could be adapted to the museum’s context.

Next, we designed three navigation prototypes exploring variations in structure, labels, and grouping. These weren’t final solutions but strategic experiments to test assumptions. In a single afternoon, we tested with 20–25 visitors of diverse backgrounds, including people with disabilities and varying digital literacy. We observed how they navigated, what they understood, and where they hesitated — revealing insights such as the need for clear, non-repetitive labels and the tendency to overlook the top bar.

The outcome wasn’t just design files but a validated set of principles and patterns for the NHM team to iterate on. We also held workshops and training to enable staff to keep testing, optimising, and evolving the navigation independently.

One step further

Navigation That Comes Alive

At Format-3, we advanced navigation using insights from testing and direct visitor feedback. People wanted more intuitive, engaging, and context-aware wayfinding, which led us to develop a live augmented reality map.

Using smartphone cameras, the AR experience overlays directions and points of interest onto the museum environment. Features shaped by visitor input include real-time updates, interactive previews, and personalized routes that adapt as users explore.

Recognising that crowd levels affect comfort, we integrated location data to detect congestion and guide visitors toward quieter areas. The result is navigation that’s both practical and immersive.

The Result

Reframed, Ready, and Moving Forward

The workshop reframed how the Natural History Museum team thinks about navigation, not as a static menu but as living UX infrastructure.

The sprint delivered:

A clear vision rooted in user needs and adaptable to multiple contexts.

Tested navigation models that balanced clarity with discovery.

Actionable insights on labelling, content hierarchy, contextual triggers, and accessibility.

A roadmap aligned with NHM’s long-term digital strategy, supporting ongoing iteration and evolution.

By the end of the sprint, NHM had not just ideas but an actionable pathway to implement adaptive navigation. The project positioned them to continuously test, refine, and evolve their system in response to audience behaviour, ensuring that navigation will remain a bridge — not a barrier — between people and the museum’s world of stories.

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