Smithsonian Affiliations is a division of the Smithsonian Institution that establishes long-term partnerships with museums, educational, and cultural organizations.
The Challenge
Smithsonian Affiliations invited Desklight to build an engaging, accessible digital learning hub within their site to help entice and inform prospective Affiliates about the opportunities of affiliating with the Institution and supporting applicants through the process.
The Process
Through a truly collaborative and innovation-forward partnership, Desklight helped the Affiliations leadership realize their vision by engaging prospective Affiliates in ways that encourage curiosity and learning. With ongoing input and guidance from current Affiliates and the exceptional Affiliations National Outreach Managers, we ensured that key stakeholder needs and motivations were core to our strategies and designs. Desklight led and guided the full design process, from early exploratory research to learning and content strategies to implementation of final designs.
Our contributions included
- Problem space exploration
- Qualitative research
- Workshop facilitations
- Content strategy and design for Learning Excursions
- User testing
- Wireframes for Excursions
- UX design of Excursion pages
- Guidance on development
The Solution
A new curricular experience establishes expectations for prospective Affiliates while providing a supportive community for all active Affiliates. Smithsonian Affiliations reported 10x more traffic to their site in the first months after launch.
After implementing Desklight’s recommendations, we saw 10x more engagement with our learning platform.
Tricia Edwards
Deputy Director, Smithsonian Affiliations
