Revitalizing the Flagship Exhibition at George Washington’s Mount Vernon

Experience Design Research
Written By Cathy Sigmond

Client: George Washington’s Mount Vernon | Location: Mount Vernon, VA

 
 

We partnered with George Washington’s Mount Vernon to test how its bold new vision for its flagship exhibition—one that would embrace the complexities and nuance of George Washington, his world, and his legacy—resonated with its target audiences.

OVERVIEW

In 2022, we led a front-end evaluation for George Washington’s Mount Vernon (Mount Vernon) to inform the revitalization of their flagship exhibition, Discover the Real George Washington, which aims to connect visitors to George Washington’s life and legacy and stoke a shared sense of civic belonging.  

Together with Mount Vernon’s design partners, SolidLight, and supported by EF Explore America, we explored this key question: how can the revitalized exhibition best support middle-school-aged children/students, their caregivers, and their teachers? 

APPROACH

We used a mixed-method approach to unpack this question from a variety of perspectives, which included:

  • Onsite and virtual interviews with intergenerational family groups, to see how their experiences have shaped their existing understandings of George Washington and his legacy;

  • Virtual focus groups with 8th grade students who had not yet visited Mount Vernon, to uncover what personal connections they are (or are not) making to George Washington; and,

  • Interviews with teachers who have been bringing students to Mount Vernon for years, to learn how they already teach about George Washington in the classroom and see what they think the revitalized exhibition must have/see/do in order to become a “can’t miss” part of their annual visit to the Washington, DC region.

Following the evaluation, we led a structured reflection for Mount Vernon and SolidLight to ensure an audience-focused design process. 

CLIENT TAKEAWAYS

We found that overall baseline knowledge of George Washington across audiences was low, yet they were intrigued by the approaches, questions, and stories proposed for the revitalized exhibition. Stories that humanized Washington and revealed his character stood out because those stories made Washington feel relatable, as did “dramatic” stories that showcased the gravity of Washington’s decision-making in the past and his widespread influence today. And, teachers were very willing to “go there” and teach “difficult” aspects of Washington’s story (and students wanted this as well), which we found promising since appreciating complexity and nuance is an essential part of a strong civic society.  

These insights gave Mount Vernon and its design partners confidence that visitors are willing and excited to engage with Washington’s world and legacy today in the revitalized exhibition.

Cathy Sigmond

Cathy brings many years of experience in education and experience design to her role as Head of Strategy at Kera Collective. 

Having previously worked in a variety of educational settings, Cathy is driven by her constant fascination and delight at how people make discoveries about the familiar and the unfamiliar. 

Cathy loves helping to shape experiences that spark curiosity and make a difference in people’s lives. She particularly enjoys the rapid, iterative nature of design-based research and the deep insights that come from qualitative research, especially on projects exploring interactions with the digital and built environments. 

Cathy shares her passion for experience design research widely and regularly guest lectures for graduate programs, including the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Exhibition and Experience Design Program and the Pratt Institute’s School of Information. Cathy served as the co-chair of the Museum Computer Network’s Human-Centered Design special interest group from 2018-2021.

Outside of work, you can usually find Cathy playing soccer, thrifting, or making her way through her large cookbook collection. 

Cathy’s favorite museum experiences are immersive; she will always vividly remember walking through the giant heart at the Franklin Institute, being surrounded by birds at the Peabody Essex Museum, and hearing centuries-old instruments come to life at the Museum of Musical Instruments. 

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