Mused is a location discovery platform for museums, consumers and app developers.
Target Audience: Consumers that travel and want to find interesting things to do
Website URL: https://www.musedapp.com/
No. of Feedback Providers Requested: 10
Feedback sought:
1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
2) Is it obvious to you that there are other interesting places besides just museums on the site?
3) Use the search box to find a museum destination of your choice. Is the destination pages informative? Is there any information we should add?
4) Does this seem like the kind of site that you would want to use? What additional features would make you want to use it on a regular basis?
5) Is it easy enough to create an account? If not, what would you change to make it easier and more luring?
6) What similar websites are you familiar with? How does the experience compare to this site?
7) What might be 1 or 2 things we can get rid of entirely?
8) Does the name of the site, Mused, mean anything to you?
1. I find the website with great style, good choice of colours and it immediately informs me what is the object of the website.
I’m tech savy so I like that it’s available also on the app store, I would totally go for that one.
What attracted my attention immediately is the Awards part. It’s a good plus to have an option that gathers points and will later give free passes on museums or events, especially for people who go to museum everytime they travel or have the chance.
Great idea on the survey!
2. Yes. Like I mentioned, events are also advertised right ion the front page. Also gardens, zoos and other buildings and places.
3. I looked for the wax museum in San Francisco. Ended up with a complete page containing price, schedule, other informations like social media, address, contact and nearby buildings to be seen. At the moment I can’t think of something missing from the page of the Museum.
4. I look for this kind of websites when I travel and the good part about this is that you don’t need to open the individual pages of each place to be seen. I would add pictures gallery.
5. The informations asked upon sign up are not too many nore complicated or too private.
6. I am not familiar with this kind of websites. I usually just go on the page of each Museum like I mentioned before. That is a lot of time wasted and when I do go I might have problems with finding the place so I have to everytime open them and find them for the information I need.
7. I can’t think of anything right now to find extra or useless.
8. I had a funny way to read into the name when I first saw it: MUSE(UM)D 🙂
1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
It was easy to understand what the site is about. The huge text and image/banner caught my attention and quickly gave me an idea of what Mused does. It was a bit difficult to read since the font color blended with the image background though.
I thought the site feels serious and business-like. I was hoping it would feel a bit more inviting and fun since it is about discovering new places.
Scrolling further down the page, I find the boxes with icons pretty informative. It gave me a clear idea of the features of the site.
Further down (beneath the Access More Features section), I thought that it started to look cluttered. There were so many text and long lists so that I wasn’t sure which to look at.
2) Is it obvious to you that there are other interesting places besides just museums on the site?
Yes, the text in the banner mentions “Museums, gardens, zoos, historical buildings, strange places, and more.” so I knew there were other places to find in the site besides museums. It’s just really hard to read because of its color.
3) Use the search box to find a museum destination of your choice. Is the destination pages informative? Is there any information we should add?
The pages are really informative. I can’t think of any other info to add, I think the content is just enough as it is.
4) Does this seem like the kind of site that you would want to use? What additional features would make you want to use it on a regular basis?
Yes I think this is really helpful in discovering new places.
It would be nice if there was option to search for deals/discounts based on location or just include it in the Search Results page as well. Like in this page: https://www.musedapp.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=California it would be nice if there was a section on Deals/Discounts included.
5) Is it easy enough to create an account? If not, what would you change to make it easier and more luring?
Yes it’s easy enough. Personally, I find it more luring to create an account if the sign up only asks for an email/id and password. I don’t like filling up too much info during sign-up even if it’s optional. Less input fields are more inviting for me.
I just noticed that there was an option to sign in using facebook but none during sign-up. It looks confusing. It would be great if it was available during sign up too.
6) What similar websites are you familiar with? How does the experience compare to this site?
tripadvisor.com can also list museums and similar places. It provides comprehensive info about the destination too. But I like that Mused is dedicated to searching for museums/historical sites which makes it a lot simpler to navigate in.
7) What might be 1 or 2 things we can get rid of entirely?
I think the site and features are great. I’m just not fond of the cluttered look of the homepage. The list New Museums, Exhibits, Apps… sort of resemble text ads.
8) Does the name of the site, Mused, mean anything to you?
Not really but I associated the word Mused with though.
1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
The first thing I see is the large photo of what looks like a restored ancient building or part of a city, which appears to be built on a hillside (mountain) right near some water. At the bottom left it says “Museo Tattile Varese”; I presume that’s what it is. In big lettering is “Discover Great Museums.” What else is available via the site is considerably smaller.
Below, there are ways to participate.
Then, there’s information about new museums, exhibits, apps, etc.
There’s also a link to the apps stores.
And a 1-ticket to 80 New York City attractions.
But you already knew all of that.
The thing is: that even though I love these kinds of trips, the site doesn’t capture my attention. One large, dark, monochromatic picture doesn’t do it. There are so many other ways of showing the variety of attractions available through the site: a video, a slider, photos laid out (a picture album).
There could be recommendations with the photos or somewhere else on the page with more photos.
Add color. Add motion. Add emotion.
Get me excited about seeing all these wonderful things.
2) Is it obvious to you that there are other interesting places besides just museums on the site?
Yes and . . .
It says so in the text over the big photo at top.
But there are no other places listed on the home page. Everything seems to be about museums.
Therefore, I know that there are other places included, but I can’t experience what these things are from the home page. I want to see photos of kids having fun at a zoo. Or pictures of a re-constructed town, i.e., Plymouth, MA or Williamsburg, VA.
3) Use the search box to find a museum destination of your choice. Is the destination pages informative? Is there any information we should add?
I went to New York City, my home town. I know there are a lot of museums/attractions in NYC, but that there many listed here that I have never heard of. Places to explore the next time I visit.
I like the filters and categories. It would be nice to include the ability to alphabetize the attractions or list by rating, location, etc. That might be your intention, but it isn’t currently working.
I like the distance feature for day trips and staycations. That’s something we did a lot in NYC and when living in the Washington DC area. It would have given us ideas for new places to go. More than were listed in the AAA tour books we used way back when.
I don’t know if you are missing anything or not.
4) Does this seem like the kind of site that you would want to use? What additional features would make you want to use it on a regular basis?
Yes, it is the kind of site that I enjoy.
It would be great if you could also include events taking place at the difference attractions. I clicked on browse and see an event category, however, the page is blank. Something you are apparently planning.
5) Is it easy enough to create an account? If not, what would you change to make it easier and more luring?
It is easy. Making the home page more exciting would be the best encouragement to sign up.
After getting back from signing in, there was a new picture of the Stanford Mausoleum. Are you planning to turn this into a slider? That would help. I would still add photos showing people having fun.
6) What similar websites are you familiar with? How does the experience compare to this site?
I’ve seen other travel sites, but don’t remember their names. The ones I’m thinking of included such things as places to stay, restaurants, etc. Opportunities for people to connect and discuss their experiences. They felt more like a community.
7) What might be 1 or 2 things we can get rid of entirely?
I’m not certain that anything should be removed from the site. For me, it is more about adding.
8) Does the name of the site, Mused, mean anything to you?
Museum Education, The Muses, aMused. It is probably the kind of word that will mean more once people get accustomed to it, like Xerox or Fridge.
1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
My first impression after looking at the homepage was that I can discover culture and great museums (from different changing beautiful pictures) by using this website. It has nice colors and elegant layout. I really like the background pictures that change.
2) Is it obvious to you that there are other interesting places besides just museums on the site?
Not so obvious until I read under the picture (info part) that more interesting places are available on the website by reading the Discover text. Normally I skim quite fast through websites so it was not very obvious for me.
3) Use the search box to find a museum destination of your choice. Is the destination pages informative? Is there any information we should add?
I searched after “photography” museums. The search results displayed no results. I would have expected to see all museums that have “photography” within the title. It did find 1 exhibition related to photography.
I searched again after “California photography” and no results were displayed again.
I searched again after “California” and finally found the “California Museum of Photography”. Within the results I found lots of info: location with museums, more details about each museum and no exhibits.
The search engine could be improved and more museums from all over the world should be added, not just US! I tried as an example Prague, Czech Republic and museums are not listed at all, just 10 results. The 10 results are actually 2 museums and their addresses are incorrect and point to the same address.
A filter would be good: search by title, location etc.
4) Does this seem like the kind of site that you would want to use? What additional features would make you want to use it on a regular basis?
Yes, it looks interesting and has lots of information. However I would use it only if the search engine would be improved, if worldwide museums are listed correctly and after seeing some preview from the “more features”.
5) Is it easy enough to create an account? If not, what would you change to make it easier and more luring?
It’s not too complicated but it can be made more easy and fast by just asking for the basic things: name or username, email and password. The rest could be left to be filled in when signing in for the 1st time or to be added when editing your profile.
6) What similar websites are you familiar with? How does the experience compare to this site?
I am not familiar with many similar websites. For specific locations I would search using google maps or tripadvisor. I would compare the search results as being more accurate for the other websites, but I would prefer this website for extra information, links and opening hours etc.
7) What might be 1 or 2 things we can get rid of entirely?
For the New *** part lists: show less results. How it is now it leads to a lot of scrolling for the user. 2-3 examples for each list would suffice.
8) Does the name of the site, Mused, mean anything to you?
It makes me think about “Being amused” – visiting museums and interesting places thus being always entertained.
1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
At first I thought that the homepage consists merely of a search engine and a few links on top of the page, however upon scrolling down, the webpage was filled with various subcategories and many interesting offers. It just wasn’t that obvious from the very start.
2) Is it obvious to you that there are other interesting places besides just museums on the site?
It is rather clearly stated under the search bar – museums, gardens, zoos, etc. However the subcategories below concentrate more on various museums and exhibitions more than anything else.
3) Use the search box to find a museum destination of your choice. Is the destination pages informative? Is there any information we should add?
Unfortunately I was not able to find many of the European museums such as Uffizi for instance. Louvre page had plenty of information, reviews and interesting tips. Most locations listed on the website are within the US but the website states that it covers museums all over the world. There are definitely more locations to be added.
4) Does this seem like the kind of site that you would want to use? What additional features would make you want to use it on a regular basis?
It is a very enticing idea and I would use the website for research purposes and as a guide while on a visit abroad. I would want to be notified of events happening nearby whenever I am on a visit.
5) Is it easy enough to create an account? If not, what would you change to make it easier and more luring?
It was fairly easy – no extra information required. The email with a confirmation link was simple and without chunks of useless information.
6) What similar websites are you familiar with? How does the experience compare to this site?
I am more familiar with traveling and booking websites and I haven’t come across a website such as Mused before. With an exception of another page dedicated to users logging in off tourist path unique sights and the name escapes me. Mused is an interesting concept with a memorable name easily linked to the idea behind it.
7) What might be 1 or 2 things we can get rid of entirely?
I personally wouldn’t be interested in the New museum apps title, although it is an interesting and innovative solution.
8) Does the name of the site, Mused, mean anything to you?
In my mind Mused is linked with muses and being inspired – inspired to read more and getting to discover more cultural experiences. As well as having obvious connection to the word museum itself.
1, I found the home page appealing the colours and photographs were eye catching. The navigation buttons were large, easy to find and self explanatory. I liked the list at the bottom of the home page of new additions. I liked that discount offers were easy to see. The museum articles to read was an interesting addition.
2, I did see that the app was for all cultural and heritage sites not just museums, but the text would have been better larger and in a more prominent position as it blends into the photograph. If I had not been
focusing on details and just looking at the app before deciding to buy, I may have missed the text.
3,I found the search facility difficult to use. I picked an area I personally know well, either the museums had not been uploaded for this area even though it was listed or the map is faulty as the museums were not showing up on the map. I liked the ability to add museums, showing museums in other countries close by was interesting but of no real use. I liked the individual museum pages with additional information such as opening times. The ability to contribute to the individual pages is also a great idea, even though I am not sure I would contribute but when investigating which museums to visit the more information available the better.
4, I would use this app when travelling to another city or country on holiday but is not an app I would keep on my phone all the time.
5, Creating an account was easy but as I would use this app more as a “tourist guidebook” the bio and community aspect was not of real interest to me.
6, I have never used a similar app, the closest would be a city guidebook app. This is more versatile as not restricted to a specific city.
7, The categories section did not appear to be relevant, and each section was filled with nonsense of words relating to Pork!
8, No the title Mused didn’t mean anything to me
1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
I like it. The purple makes it stand out. It looks very professional and makes its function clear immediately in the name and the copy. The cover image is of high quality, but it took a while to load, which could make a user think their computer is slowing down or something.
The purple type above the search box gets lost in the background to some extent. It could be improved with a semi-transparent background box, possibly white or black in color. Also, there is an odd-looking square on the search button that makes me think the browser can’t read the character. You might also lighten up the background just a hair. It seems a little too dark to me, but I could be wrong about that.
2) Is it obvious to you that there are other interesting places besides just museums on the site?
By reading the third line, it became obvious to me that the site is about more than just museums. The idea of “strange places” is pretty exciting to me. That sounds like haunted houses and other wild stuff that I would enjoy.
3) Use the search box to find a museum destination of your choice. Is the destination pages informative? Is there any information we should add?
The information provided by a search is good but there are some less-than-perfect things I noticed. For one, the locations are sometimes left-aligned and sometimes right-aligned, which is distracting. They should probably be consistently aligned to one side. Also, I feel like there should be descriptions under the names. The Mack Trucks museum doesn’t sound terribly exciting to me on its own. Maybe there should be more information, like “Old trucks on display, interactive kiosks, guided tours involving trucks” or something specific. The name seems like too little information. The location information is good and the map and distance searches would be extremely useful. A picture might even be nice.
4) Does this seem like the kind of site that you would want to use? What additional features would make you want to use it on a regular basis?
I’m not a museum enthusiast, but if I knew this site existed and I wanted to visit a museum or a similar place, I’d definitely use it. It seems very useful for its intended purpose. I might like to check out haunted or spooky places. If there were an abundance of those sorts of things, it might be nice. I definitely think that the name “Mused” makes me think of art galleries and/or museums rather than zoos or spooky places, though.
5) Is it easy enough to create an account? If not, what would you change to make it easier and more luring?
Does the site need just my first name or my full name? The signup form should specify. Also, it seems odd that the avatar option is so high up. I didn’t expect it to appear quite so soon in the process. I’m not saying it’s bad, I’m just saying it’s unexpected. That really jumped out at me.
Ideally, I would like to be able to sign up without a confirmation email because they can get lost or take forever to arrive, and I have no way of knowing which it is. I don’t know how technically feasible that is, but I know that not all sites require confirmation emails.
6) What similar websites are you familiar with? How does the experience compare to this site?
I have used store locators to find stores in a specific chain that are near my location. I think this is a little more fun because there are many possibilities as to what new things you can find. Still, the search feels slightly lifeless and unfriendly without the aid of pictures or descriptions. Other than that, it seems very intuitive.
7) What might be 1 or 2 things we can get rid of entirely?
At first I was going to suggest the “lists” section, but after checking it out I found the Quirky Museums list and I really like that. I tried out the Watch button and Museums TV, but it was very slow and I couldn’t tell if the link even worked or not. It may be a cool thing, but at the moment it doesn’t even seem like it’s working and that’s kind of a turn-off. You might want to get rid of that. Side note, I didn’t scroll down on the homepage, nor did I realize that I could until I saw the scroll bar. Maybe there should be some additional indicator?
Also, I’m not 100% sold on the “Read” section. It seems clean and reasonably inviting, I just feel like I don’t have a specific reason to use the feature. Maybe if you got more specific with the theme or the purpose of the section, like “Become an expert on museums by reading these great articles” or “Run faster, jump higher…” Those are bad examples, but my point is, I don’t see a benefit from that feature. Will it help me attract beautiful women or make more money? Will it reduce my car’s gas mileage? I hope that makes sense. “Stay informed” just seems too generic and doesn’t make me want to do it.
8) Does the name of the site, Mused, mean anything to you?
Yes, it makes me immediately think of art, inspiration, poetry and creation. It also suggests antiquity and obviously the Greek Muses, as well as museums. I think it is a great name. It does not match up perfectly with every single thing your site offers, but much of it, and I feel like it could catch on.
By:- Athith Pradeep
1) Look around the home page- what is your initial impression of what you see?
A: As i scrolled through the homepage, my first impression was that this website focuses mainly on museums than anything else. A visitor with a similar mindset as mine would first click on browse and select categories to explore, because i’d really love to see what the site could suggest for users who are looking for the wide view. Also, the third title right above the search box did not seem to be quite legible & eye catching due to the slight similarities in the text color and the background color. An Even white text color tone with a dark black text outline would do the trick.
I specially liked the new article section as the information and the wide range of options it provides is very intriguing. As I scrolled way down, I happened to notice all the sharing options. I feel its a better idea to have the share options at the top or in the middle cause it makes a big difference in publicizing a website. Not all visitors are going to scroll all the way to the bottom.
2) Is it obvious to you that there are other interesting places besides just museums on the site?
A: Well, its not that conspicuous to the visitor who’s visiting the website for his/her first time that its a website displaying all kinds of aspects including museums cause the website seems more focused and concentrated towards different museums across the globe, than on all the other kinds of Cultural and heritage places and activities around the world.
3) Use the search box to find a museum destination of your choice. Is the destination pages informative? Is there any information we should add?
A: I tried searching for Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum in Bangalore located in India.
Unfortunately, I did not seem to find it on the website nor did I find any related article!
Hence, the website must be updated with more information from more places all over the world.
4) Does this seem like the kind of site that you would want to use? What additional features would make you want to use it on a regular basis?
A: Yes, I do agree that I find this site very informative and would gladly use it for future references. The site looks highly professional and attractive. It sets an emotion in the customers mind which makes them want to keep coming back for more latest updates! Yet, there’s is a lot of missing information which needs to be updated and filled up.
An additional feature that I would definitely recommend is a drop down menu or any kind of menu with all the countries to choose from so that it makes the visitors search smooth flowing and takes him/her exactly to the right landing page. A slightly more systematic website with more options would do the trick!
5) Is it easy enough to create an account? If not, what would you change to make it easier and more luring?
A: The signing up section of the website is very simple and does not annoy the visitor with many questions. Its better to keep it the way it is. One problem i encountered was that I could not find the IST(Indian Standard Timezone) To choose from in the time zone section. This would confuse a user when the option he expects is not displayed. I personally found it very quick and easy to sign up!
Since, this is not a website which requires very high security for its customers. I would not recommend security questions.
6) What similar websites are you familiar with? How does the experience compare to this site?
A: A kinda similar website is the BBC.com website which provides similar information but on a larger scale with many more sources and with more intricacy I guess. The website is very confusing at first, but the customers grow into it as time passes by. We learn to go about the website. musedapp.com is on the other hand very easy to go about searching for what we want. If I had to choose between both the websites providing the same information, I’d go with musedapp.com anyday due to its “keep it simple” status.
7) What might be 1 or 2 things we can get rid of entirely?
A: I would not recommend having the “watch” icon on the top. Instead, you can insert the videos where the information to that specific place is given.
This way the visitor is more likely to watch the videos! Other than that, I find no other flaw in the website as such.
8) Does the name of the site, Mused, mean anything to you?
A: The second I read the name “Mused”, I expected the site to be something similar to bbc.com. As i went by the literal meaning of mused which means: To ponder over something intricately.
Thank you!
1) First impression : colours are great, the important informations are found easily. There is only a square icon on the search button, why not a magnifier? The title font on the tiles is a bit too thin for smaller screens
2) To me it is obvious that there are more than museums on this website : it is said and the picture implies it
3) The search results page feels odd. The search results should be right under the title “search results” and I wouldn’t put “your searched …” in a rectangle
4) I would use this website on a regular basis if it was easier to browse exhibition by city. To me it takes too much time to access this information
5) Are all the inforrmation compulsory? I cannot tell. Otherwise it is pretty easy : not too many information to enter, all on the same page.
6) I am not familiar with any website similar to this one
7) There are too many information in the new exhibits, new museum app… I live in Paris which mean I don’t need to know what’s new in the US. You could get rid of this if the user is not logged in
8) A muse. I got mused. I did not imagine it would be about museums when I saw the name
1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
This website was very nicely put together. The home page is beautiful, and I like how when refreshed, the background image is different. It’s very modern looking, yet simple.
2) Is it obvious to you that there are other interesting places besides just museums on the site?
Yes, directly in the center of the screen above the search bar, it states that there are more than just museums on this website.
3) Use the search box to find a museum destination of your choice. Is the destination pages informative? Is there any information we should add?
The search works wonderfully. The only thing I thought was awkward about the search is that if you search ‘Philadelphia,’ for example, it will say at the top of the screen how many museums are in that area, and I didn’t know that I had to click there to see a list of all of them. Halfway down the screen there’s a button that says “browse all museums,” but it literally lets you browse all of the museums in the website’s database.
4) Does this seem like the kind of site that you would want to use? What additional features would make you want to use it on a regular basis?
Yes, it’s definitely a useful tool for people looking for something fun to do.
5) Is it easy enough to create an account? If not, what would you change to make it easier and more luring?
The account page didn’t give me any problems.
6) What similar websites are you familiar with? How does the experience compare to this site?
I never have seen a website like this. There are websites that help you find specific types of places, but I never have seen one for museums and gardens and such.
7) What might be 1 or 2 things we can get rid of entirely?
I don’t think there’s anything that needs to go.
8) Does the name of the site, Mused, mean anything to you?
I think it’s quite fitting, considering what the site offers.