California Science Center
Recapturing Imagination and Stimulating Curiosity
Services
- Research
- IA & UX Strategy
- Creative Direction
- Modular Design System
- WCAG Compliance
Industry
- Science Museum
Key Results
- Comprehensive creative redesign
- Tessitura ticketing/membership system integration
- Drupal architecture implementation
- Increased visitorship and elevated brand awareness
Background
The California Science Center needed a website facelift to match its mission of stimulating curiosity and inspiring science learning through memorable experiences. Accessibility for people with disabilities was a core need for their new site, along with implementing an open-source CMS with ticketing/membership system integration.
A Fresh New Look from the Inside Out
Keeping in mind California Science Center’s goals of increasing brand engagement and revenue, we were able to dive in and create something that felt completely contemporary yet openly welcomes users to discover the awe, wonder, and possibilities of science.
Inside the technical parts of the site, we first sought out to make it entirely WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliant to ensure all types of users are able to use the site while simultaneously providing a boost to SEO. The architecture of the site was built with a focus on longevity and adaptability so that less day-to-day maintenance is required and yet, provides easy paths for updates to address ever-changing needs.
Now for sprinkles on top of the well-engineered cake. To elevate California Science Center’s brand engagement, we gave the new site an almost-life-like sleek new look with bright colors, playful toggles, ingenious navigation, and informative visuals to pique user curiosity at every turn.
Challenge
STAUFFER was to give The California Science Center’s website a much-needed facelift. Their mission is to stimulate curiosity and inspire science learning by creating memorable experiences — so why should their website be any different? Accessibility for people with disabilities was a core need for their new site, as was implementing an open-source CMS replete with a ticketing/membership system integration.
Using a Drupal paragraph-driven system with full Tessitura ticketing/membership integration and a full publishing workflow engine, CSC provided us a customized flow and we did the research and scoping that was needed to understand Tessitura’s API to develop and integrate the website to Tessitura utilizing the REST API. The end result was a scalable, easy-to-use ticketing system that integrated seamlessly with their CMS and provided a trove of data and analytics they could apply to improving visitor experience.
Development
To create a virtual space that felt exciting and fresh, STAUFFER executed a comprehensive redesign, encompassing discovery, research, design, and development. The result not only looked great for visitors but also worked well for internal users.
STAUFFER collaborated with members of the California Science Center to develop moodboards. These served as the launchpad for STAUFFER’s creative team to assemble a series of design comps from which the team could choose the visual direction of their new online identity.
Solution
As the home to one of humanity’s greatest technological achievements and many other exhibitions, both traveling and permanent, the California Science Center needed a site that acted as a valuable resource to visitors and piqued wonder and fascination with the public.
Using a Drupal paragraph-driven system with full Tessitura ticketing/membership integration and a full publishing workflow engine, the end result was a scalable, easy-to-use ticketing system that integrated seamlessly with their CMS and provided a trove of data and analytics to improve visitor experience.
