Heritage in Motion

UX Research · Storytelling · Visitor Journey Mapping

Nominated and selected to present – Best Master’s Thesis of 2025
Past Meets Present: The Original Benz Factory in Ladenburg

Overview

How can a small, preservation-focused museum create emotionally engaging visitor experiences without high-tech installations or a big budget?

This was the central question of my master’s thesis, applied to the Automuseum Dr. Carl Benz in Ladenburg, housed in the original factory building where the first automobile was developed. The project was nominated and selected as the Best Master’s Thesis of 2025 at BTU.

    • My role: Solo researcher and designer
    • Methods: Survey design, on-site observation, interviews, Qualitative research, Persona development, Journey mapping, Heritage storytelling
    • Deliverable: Research findings + three-phase improvement roadmap

Challenges

Small heritage museums face a real tension: they want to engage modern visitors emotionally and educationally, but have limited budgets and a responsibility to preserve authenticity. The question isn’t just what to design; it’s what can realistically be done within these constraints.

Approach

I combined museum studies, UX design, and cultural heritage interpretation into a user-centered research framework:

  • Adapted 4Es Model: Entertaining, Educational, Engaging, Emotional

  • Three-stage questionnaire with 70+ participants: Pre-visit → Immediate post-visit → Two months later — tracking how visitors’ memories and impressions evolved over time.

  • On-site observation & interviews

  • Five visitor personas representing diverse audience needs

  • Visitor Journey Mapping identifying emotional, cognitive, and spatial touchpoints

4Es Model
Visitor Perspectives: Findings from the Three-Stage Questionnaire

Personas

Key Insights

  • Personal narratives, such as Bertha Benz’s journey, strongly enhance memory retention.

  • Architectural authenticity creates sensory and spatial connection.

  • Lack of wayfinding, multilingual signage, and thematic coherence limits deeper engagement.

  • Social media could raise awareness and attract more international visitors.

Outcomes

  • Three-phase improvement roadmap tailored for low-budget, heritage contexts:

    1. Boost Digital Visibility: Multilingual content, storytelling-focused website, social media campaigns

    2. Enrich On-site Experience: Clearer signage, thematic storytelling, interactive low-tech touchpoints

    3. Extend Post-visit Engagement: Storytelling newsletters, community events, online memory sharing

Proposed Three-Phase Roadmap for Enhancing the Visitor Experience at the Automuseum Dr. Carl

Impact

This project shows how UX thinking and heritage storytelling can transform even small, low-tech museums into emotionally rich and memorable experiences, scalable for similar institutions worldwide. The work was recognized among the Best Master’s Thesis of 2025 at BTU.

This project would not have been possible without the generous collaboration of the Automuseum Dr. Carl Benz. I am especially grateful to Mr. Winfried A. Seidel, the museum’s founder, whose passion for preserving automotive heritage was a constant source of inspiration. From him, I learned the value of following your passion wholeheartedly and finding joy in your work, a lesson as timeless as the cars in his collection.