A new digital guide with fresh audio content for visitors to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square
Six hours of new audio content with guests including HRH Princess Eugenie, ‘Gruffalo’ illustrator Axel Scheffler and national treasure Stephen Fry
Having been without an audio guide for four years, I lead the content development and delivery of a suite of audio tours to coincide with the National Gallery’s Bicentenary and reopening of the Sainsbury Wing in May 2025, powered by Smartify. We tested content over a whole year prior.
The finished product included more than 60 new stops in nine languages as well as BSL and audio described versions, plus curated tours and a ‘build your own’ tour experience. More to come…
Data driven insights
Through focus groups, in-app surveys and data analysis, we tested stop length impact on audience engagement with the audio guide and learned that the key factor influencing user behaviour was consistency. Long audio stops fared worse in mixed-length tours, compared to tours where all of the stops were long.
This led me to stick to our longer length of stops, which best fulfilled the Gallery’s interpretation strategy for ‘The Wonder of Art’ collection display, to increase dwell time with the paintings. The pay off was fewer audiences completing their stops - while listening to more content overall.
I also commissioned bespoke focus group testing with blind and partially sighted visitors, as well as a guide to best practice audio production with this audience.