Australian Centre for the Moving Image – Visitor Experience

ACMI approached Meld Studios to obtain visitor-centred insights to inform redevelopment of the museum. The scope of the engagement encompassed: - Understanding current state service delivery in all aspects of ACMI's products and services - involving both front of house and back of house; - Identifying opportunities for service improvement and innovation; - Laying out a future vision for service delivery that maps to the development of new gallery spaces. No further initiatives or constraints were articulated at the time of our engagement, the objective was to help ACMI understand opportunities for enhancements.

Meld Studios conducted qualitative research with visitors, frontline staff and stakeholders to understand the current service interactions and identify opportunities for new and enhanced services and delivery. Observational research at the museum allowed us to look broadly at visitor and staff behaviours and infer how the types of experiences might suit different types of visitors to the museum and how existing socio-technical systems can support those behaviours. Following the research, and a period of analysis and synthesis, we visualised the existing visitor journey, mapping the key moments of interaction, and identifying opportunities to explore in later work.

Research underpinned masterplanning, leading to design and architectural work; it was vital for ACMI's multiple business cases to Victorian Government; and helped prioritise and improve internal systems and practices. The journey map became a North Star whenever making change - and brought underlying infrastructural and procedural issues to the fore. Seb Chan, Chief Experience Officer, ACMI, said: "Meld Studios helped us to understand our visitor experience, with a particular focus on identifying the behaviours, systems and processes surrounding service delivery to visitors. We used this work to help secure $36.6m in funding from the Victoria State Government." See the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZGmbaMdEzo

The influence and impact of this project has been significant far beyond the initial scope. Central to this extended influence and impact is the highly engaging journey map that was used to communicate findings. Delivering visitor insights as a journey map, rather than simply as a traditional insights report, had a dramatic impact on how insights were consumed within ACMI, the longevity of their use within the museum, and the influence of the project within the galleries, libraries and museum sector. The journey map enabled staff members to collaboratively engage with insights and explore solutions. It remained a North Star for exploring change and discussing customer needs long after many initial changes were implemented. The ACMI journey map has also had a significant impact in influencing visitor-centric activities in galleries, libraries and museums around the world. Seb Chan, Chief Experience Officer at ACMI, has blogged and spoken about the visitor journey mapping work at international conferences. Through the extended sharing of the ACMI visitor journey map, this engagement has directly influenced similar engagements that have improved the experiences of museum visitors in locations such as the UK and Hong Kong.