Following a service design approach, this thesis explores how children can be encouraged as experts in their own experiences by participating in design processes. The exploration has been examined in the context of how museums can design more engaging museum experiences for children by actively involving children during their design processes.
Museums approach the design of their exhibitions and activities differently, and most often, these are co-designed with children in passive roles as users or testers at the end of the design process or after the museum opens the exhibition or activity to the public. Through secondary research and interviews with seven museum professionals and three experts in child-centered design, this thesis explores the benefits, opportunities, and challenges museums can encounter when co-designing their experiences with children. The insights gained from the secondary and primary research are tested and evaluated through two co-design workshops with a fourth-grade primary school class. In these workshops, the goal was to test methods for co-designing a museum experience with the children as design partners.
The thesis concludes by suggesting a design process with accompanying methods supporting museums in co-designing child- centered museum experiences with children in active roles.