Originally a YMCA building, 21c Museum Hotel was repurposed into an award-winning boutique hotel and contemporary art museum in downtown St. Louis.
Guests and visitors at the 21C Museum Hotel in St. Louis were experiencing significant wayfinding challenges.
Despite the hotel's rich offerings —
—many visitors remained confined to the lobby area.
Through interviews with both guests and staff, we discovered a pattern of confusion:
"I was a little confused on where to go because there's so much... then I start to wonder if I'm able to walk around freely in the building,"
- Ray, a 22-year-old visitor.
This validated our core question:
Our design features an immersive staircase with interactive screens at each level displaying hotel history and available amenities. This guides guests beyond the lobby, encouraging exploration of the museum and facilities throughout the 21c Museum Hotel.
We validated our concept through four research methods:
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Our research methods revealed that our proposed interactive screen solution transformed the guest experience dramatically.
While the original journey showed significant dissatisfaction during exploration and stay phases, our new approach created consistently positive experiences across all journey touchpoints.
In answering our HMW question, we drafted wireframes and explored three approaches for our staircase-integrated screen system. Below are examples of the landing pages for each approach:
We ultimately selected option A because usability tests revealed higher satisfaction with the map-centric approach for quick spatial orientation.
After many, many design system iterations, we decided on an architecture style design system that conveyed the historic, hospitable, and artistic values. The architectural integration aligns with the historical building context and brand identity. We emphasized these values through modern font, hotel imagery, and inverse bold and basic colors.
After a round of usability testing and revisions, our final design presents visitors with several key categories of information:
The final interface successfully addresses the initial problem by creating clear pathways for discovery, providing contextual information at decision points on each floor, and using a consistent visual language that guides visitors throughout the entire building.
The benefits are distributed not only among guests who wished for more guidance, but also employees who wished for clearer signage and exhibition information.
What it looks like when users venture beyond the lobby and navigate upstairs using our installation
