Analysis of art museums’ visitor behavior and eye movements for mobile guide app design

Abstract

Over the past decade, the growing prevalence of smartphone has motivated museums to bring out the guide service in the form of a mobile app. However, not many museums are actively embracing cutting-edge technology. Therefore, this study aims at proposing a design blueprint of a visitor-centered art museum guide app that guarantees its usability. For integrated approach of quantitative and qualitative analysis, we conducted the eye-tracking, survey, and in-depth interview by selecting five art museum mobile apps. We then analyzed which apps are the most efficient by analyzing the number of page steps and the time through the required task of the mobile app, as well as the problem area for each app. Through the results of this experiment, it contributes to identifying and solving the existing problems of app-aided exhibition services and provides insights into the digital strategies of the visitor-centered museum.