Common Ground · Civic experience
A public institution, made public again.
How a new purpose, participation model, and visitor journey opened a national institution to more people—and more possibilities.
The shift in view
From audience to participant
A new role for visitors in shaping the institution’s public value.
From departments to journeys
Teams aligned around what people need before, during, and after a visit.
From launch to practice
Tools and rituals that keep the new promise active in everyday decisions.
Opening the institution from the inside out
Common Ground had a bold architectural plan and an equally ambitious public mission. The opportunity was to connect them: making openness more than a quality of the building.
Listening beyond the usual audience
We worked with visitors, non-visitors, educators, community organizations, and frontline colleagues to understand where the institution felt inviting—and where invisible thresholds remained.
A promise with practical consequences
Together we defined a public experience promise, redesigned priority journeys, and created a decision framework used across programming, operations, digital, and place.
Northline helped us see that access was not a program. It was a way of making every decision.
Daniel Okafor
Director of Public Experience, Common Ground
Make the next change visible.
Bring us the question that crosses strategy, experience, and organization.