Redesigning Your
Museum’s Web site:
A Survivors’ Guide
Allegra Burnette The Museum of Modern Art
Joanna Champagne, National Gallery of Art, DC
Charlotte Sexton, The National Gallery, United Kingdom
Dana Mitroff Silvers, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Museums and the Web 2009
April 17, 2009

Joanna Champagne,
National Gallery of Art, DC

Audience: demographics, personas, attitudes

Discover your audience via
the attitudes they have
towards Art and your
museum...find out what they
are passionate about

Look beyond museums: trends

Smart search, and evolving
discussions about art in the
social sphrere..leave no
influential web trend/practice
unexamined

Brand direction: digital and physical equity

Harmonize Web design with
existing physical brand
systems and institutional
values...so that online and
physical experiences can
form a cyclical and
nourishing relationship

Moving towards design

Serve the art and the place

Charlotte Sexton,
The National Gallery, UK

Web site redesigns:
an exercise in leadership

Yes we can…

Everyone has an opinion…

Homepage: January 2008

Homepage: April 2008

Homepage: May 2008

Homepage: June 2008

Homepage: August 2008

‘Success’ is spelt t.e.a.m.

The Team
EXTERNAL PARTNERS CORE PROJECT TEAM ADDITIONAL SUPPORT
Governance:
Information Systems:
Project owner
1 x Production Support
Head of Information Systems
1 x Programmer
Head of Collections
1 x Collection integration
CMS - BoxUK 1 x Technical Support
Core Project team:
Design and IA - Bureau for Internal Departments:
1 x Designer
Information
Visual Affairs 2 x Editors
Education
1 x Administrator
Search Engine Development
1 x Project Leader
Optimisation - I-Level Comms and Media
1 x Project Manager
Curatorial
Photographic
Curatorial:
AV
Collection Information Manager
Plus:
Additional temp staff

Q. How do you survive
a website redesign project?

Allegra Burnette,
The Museum of Modern Art

It’s more about the people
than the technology

1. Outline your internal capabilities and resources

1. Outline your internal capabilities and resources
2. Specify initial technical requirements

1. Outline your internal capabilities and resources
2. Specify initial technical requirements
3. Further define your requirements

1. Outline your internal capabilities and resources
2. Specify initial technical requirements
3. Further define your requirements
4. Remain flexible

1. Outline your internal capabilities and resources
2. Specify initial technical requirements
3. Further define your requirements
4. Remain flexible
5. Think about the launch, but also think long-term

Internal Web Teams
SFMOMA = 2 people
National Gallery, London = 5 people
NGA = 5 people
MoMA = 7 people

Existing, off-the-shelf solutions
Open-source software
Custom solutions

If you’re thinking of doing it
internally, hire good people!

If you’re thinking of doing it
externally, hire vendors who
have a real understanding of your
goals and requirements

If you’re thinking of doing it
externally, hire vendors who
have a real understanding of your
goals and requirements
or get different vendors.

And don’t forget to have fun!

Dana Mitroff Silvers,
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Be ready to respond
1.

Be ready to respond
1.
Success is not just about
2.
the numbers

London, 16 March 2009 | | 1

London, 16 March 2009 | | 1

Success is not just about the
numbers

Establish goals you can evaluate
Be realistic about the results
you can get

To what extent does the new
SFMOMA site:

To what extent does the new
SFMOMA site:

To what extent does the new
SFMOMA site:
Contextualize the collection?
1.

To what extent does the new
SFMOMA site:
Contextualize the collection?
1.
Foster engagement with the
2.
museum?

Confluence of factors:
Our methodology
1.
Difficult (impossible?) goals
2.
to measure

i

Thank you!
And now the questions...