Imagine walking in to a museum ready to explore, learn, and see some fantastic art. To make the most of your visit and ensure you don't miss any highlights, you'd like to enlist the help of an audio guide. The venue most likely invites you to rent one of their audio guide devices, or to download their official audio guide app.

This scenario presents pain points both for you and for the venue. You may not want to deal with the hassle of renting a device or installing yet another app on your phone. The venue has likely made a huge investment in their guide(s), which are mightily expensive to solicit and to maintain over time.

Smartify was uniquely positioned to offer a better alternative. It could become venues' platform of choice by making tour creation, promotion, and technical support smoother and more affordable than ever before. It could become visitors' museum app of choice by offering an intuitive experience and massive database of information that complemented, rather than distracted from, the art itself.

Our team interviewed visitors at two venues in London to understand their behavior during their visits. Did they prefer to be guided through a gallery or to explore on their own? As they walked around looking at art, what types of signage or information did they expect to see or hear? Would they rather rent a device from a museum or install an app on their own phone?

Because everyone's relationship with art is unique, the answers to these questions were varied. We drafted a set of unifying principles to align the team before designing anything. Smartify tours needed to: