Museum apps

As part of the App design brief I am planning to design an App for the Circus Museum.  I've downloaded some free Apps to my iPhone for Contextual research and also to see if how user friendly they are.

Obviously with a navigation/guide type App it would be more useful to actually use in Context ie at the museum however I can still get a feel for menus/controls/design.  Also i will try to pick ones where I have actually visited so I can relate to them more.

I have tried to download the Musee du Louvre app however just checked the reviews and a lot of people are struggling to download because its so big.  It may be because it offers a video tour.

Some of the positive reviews say that this app works well as a taster/ advert for the museum (it is free) however some people criticise it for its limited view of the art collection.

They also offer apps on specific art collectons which you can pay for. (£1.99)


A bit closer to home an app that uses GPS and allows you to tour around London and see photos back in history where you are actually located. This amazing iPhone and Android app from the Museum of London lets you travel back in time. Hold your camera up in the present day and watch as images from the past appear on screen!

Museum of London

Digital Agency, Acknowledgement discuss how Museums are using Apps:

Museums and art galleries are coming up with innovative ways to enhance visitors' experiences from offering augmented reality apps as exhibition guides to inviting visitors to become part of the museum curation process through crowd-sourcing. There are a number of benefits museums and galleries can gain from embracing digital including:

• Increased engagement with visitors Greater participatory experiences for visitors 
• Extending visitors experiences by offering them the opportunity to preview an exhibition before they even arrive at the institution and further, explore and re-visit them after 
• Developing an online community 
• Interactive education - using increased interactivity to improve educational engagement

The Science Museum offer an Augmented reality app whereby visitors can point their phone at an exhibit and James May explains it. The critism of this type of app is that people spend more time looking at their phones than the actual exhibits!  On the flip side, it could be claimed that by offering a more interactive experience the visitor is more invested in learning about the objects in the exhibition.