Tate Gallery

Project overview

• Planned and conducted 20 moderated research sessions with primary, secondary and specialist educators, evaluating existing digital experiences to inform UX and interaction design recommendations.
• Tate wanted to improve how teachers discover educational resources, adapt content for classroom use and organise school visits.
• Identified challenges around resource findability, curriculum relevance and supporting pupils with different learning needs.
• Explored opportunities to improve information architecture, interaction patterns and end-to-end user journeys.

Problem

Tate wanted to understand how teachers plan lessons and organise cultural visits, and how Tate’s digital offering could better support resource discovery, classroom use, inclusivity, and visit booking.

The design challenge

How might we help time-pressed teachers find relevant educational resources, understand their suitability and prepare them for classroom use — while making school visit planning simpler?

The project highlighted three interconnected experience problems:

• Discoverability: Teachers needed more effective ways to find resources relevant to their subjects, key stages and pupils.
• Usability: Content was not always structured around teachers’ practical classroom needs.
• Task completion: Planning a school visit involved multiple steps, information requirements and communications.

The challenge was not simply to improve the appearance of individual pages, but to make the overall experience more useful, understandable and efficient.

Understanding the existing experience

I evaluated key areas of the Tate Schools website alongside 20 moderated interviews with teachers.

The evaluation covered the Schools landing page, resource discovery, individual teaching resources and visit information.

I explored how teachers navigated the site, interpreted content, used filtering options and determined whether resources would meet their needs.

The findings informed recommendations for navigation, search and filtering, content organisation and visit planning.

Design opportunity 1 — Improving resource discovery

The problem

Teachers valued Tate’s creative content but struggled to find resources matching their specific teaching requirements.

Navigation did not always make Tate Schools easy to locate, while existing filtering options did not adequately support all user needs, particularly those of SEND educators.

Evidence

• Some participants initially searched Tate Kids rather than Tate Schools.
• Teachers valued filtering by key stage, resource type and art form.
• SEND educators wanted more targeted ways to identify suitable resources.
• Teachers needed to understand curriculum relevance before investing time in reviewing materials.

Interaction design recommendations

• Improve the visibility and navigation pathways to Tate Schools.
• Extend filtering to support key stage, subject, curriculum connections and SEND requirements.
• Make resource cards more informative by showing intended audience, activity type and learning relevance.
• Help teachers narrow large collections without repeatedly opening unsuitable resources.

Design rationale: Prioritise recognition over recall and reduce the time and effort needed to identify suitable content.

Design opportunity 2 — Making resources classroom-ready

The problem

Teachers often needed to adapt Tate resources before using them in lessons.

Some resources contained lengthy explanations, unclear teaching instructions or insufficient information about how activities could be incorporated into the curriculum.

Evidence

• Teachers frequently copied content into their own presentations.
• Some found text-heavy content overwhelming, particularly for SEND pupils.
• Teachers valued visual examples, discussion prompts and clear instructions.
• Age appropriateness and curriculum connections were not always obvious.

Interaction design recommendations

• Reorganise resource pages around learning objectives, activity steps and supporting materials.
• Introduce consistent content sections such as Prepare, Explore, Make and Extend.
• Display key information, including key stage, duration and required materials, prominently.
• Provide clearer download options for editable and printable classroom materials.
• Include accessible and differentiated learning alternatives.

Design rationale: Reduce cognitive load and make it easier for teachers to understand, evaluate and reuse resources.

Design opportunity 3 — Simplifying school visit planning

The problem

Organising a museum visit involved considerable administrative effort.

Teachers needed to evaluate educational relevance, accessibility, cost, travel arrangements and school requirements before confirming a visit.

Evidence

• Visit planning could involve multiple communications with the venue.
• Teachers needed clear information on costs, logistics and accessibility.
• Risk assessments, student needs and school approvals formed part of the wider process.
• Time-pressed teachers wanted a more straightforward way to organise visits.

Interaction design recommendations

• Explore a structured self-service booking journey.
• Make visit availability, costs and accessibility information easier to find.
• Provide downloadable planning information and risk assessment materials.
• Present booking requirements progressively rather than overwhelming users with information.
• Clarify the steps involved and provide confirmation of next actions.

Design rationale: Simplify complex journeys by improving information hierarchy, reducing uncertainty and supporting task completion.

From research findings to interaction design

The research established a set of practical design requirements across three areas of the Tate Schools experience.

1. Resource discovery

An improved catalogue experience that helps teachers search, filter and compare resources against their teaching requirements.

2. Resource detail

A clearer content structure that makes learning objectives, activities, materials and adaptation options easier to understand.

3. School visit booking

A simplified journey that guides teachers through selecting a visit, providing school details and understanding booking requirements.

These opportunities can be explored through wireframes, interface concepts and subsequent usability evaluation.

Research and design outputs

• Evaluation of existing website journeys and interaction patterns.
• Identification of navigation, discoverability and content usability issues.
• Research-informed information architecture recommendations.
• Functional requirements for resource filtering and categorisation.
• Recommendations for clearer resource layouts and classroom preparation.
• Conceptual improvements to visit planning and booking journeys.
• Comprehensive research findings and evidence-based design recommendations.

Outcome

Delivered research and UX recommendations that established clear priorities for improving Tate’s digital experience for teachers.

The work identified opportunities to reduce resource-discovery effort, improve content accessibility and adaptability, strengthen curriculum relevance and simplify school visit planning.

The findings provided an evidence-based foundation for future interaction design and product improvements.

Methods and expertise

UX Design: Information architecture, interaction design recommendations, content hierarchy, journey analysis, accessibility and usability evaluation.

User Research: Discovery interviews, moderated usability evaluation, qualitative synthesis, research planning and behavioural analysis.

Human Factors: Cognitive load, task efficiency, decision-making, accessibility and usability.