When visitors walk through a museum, their path seems natural, guided by curiosity, aesthetics, or maybe a helpful app. But behind the scenes, layout and design decisions determine how visitors move through a space and what they experience. Research by Georgia Tech’s Abhishek Deshmane, assistant professor of operations management, explores how data-driven approaches can improve visitor engagement in museums and other experience-focused environments.

Traditionally, curators arrange exhibits by theme or chronology, but visitors rarely follow these intended paths. Instead, they carve their own routes, sometimes skipping key pieces or creating congestion around popular works.

Deshmane partnered with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam to study this challenge. Using data from 1.5 million visitors and their interactions with the museum’s multimedia guide, he and his team developed models predicting how layout influences visitor movement. Over three years of field experiments, their research informed a €1 million redesign of the audio guide system, now enhancing experiences for approximately 3,500 visitors each day.

These findings show that data-driven design can do more than improve operational efficiency—it can deepen the visitor experience. Subtle changes to exhibit arrangement and digital tools help visitors engage with a wider range of artworks, reduce crowding, and create lasting memories.

In a world where experiences compete for attention, Deshmane’s work highlights how analytics can make a museum visit more meaningful and enjoyable.