Talk given at the BOBCATSSS 2015 conference - http://www.bobcatsss2015.com/. Are Croatian museums communicating well on the web or is there room for improvement? An analysis of visual communication on Croatian art museum websites and websites of their European counterparts.

1. Visual communication of
Museum websites:
Analysis and comparison
of European and Croatian
art museums
Students: Milan Balać, Mia Kuzmić and Iva Magušić – Dumančić
Mentor: Josipa Selthofer

2. Introduction
What isVisual Communication?

3. „The most powerful,
meaningful and culturally
important messages are
those that combine words
and pictures equally and
respectfully.”
Paul Martin Lester

4. What isVisual Communication?
• A way of conveying information using visual elements like
typography, symbols, images, color etc.

5. A picture is worth a
thousand words

7. • Humans perceive somewhere between 70% and 80% of
information visually

8. • Visual elements provide context
• When used right, they make the messages more clear
and believable
• When missused, they dilute the messages

11. Visual Communication
Design
Informing and evoking interest

12. VCD
• Process of „interpretation, organization, and visual
representation of messages”
• It relies on the use of different principles and visual
elements to create a visual language

13. • Visual communication needs to be appealing,
appropirate, easily understood and memorable – it exists
not only to inform, but to evoke interest.

14. VCD on the Internet
• Follows the same rules
• Home page is the anchor of the site – it communicates the big
picture
• Home page should answer questions like:
• Where am I?
• What can be found on this website?
• How do I search through it?
• What are the current events?

15. Methodology

16. Museums
Europe (Art Museums): Croatia (Art Museums):
- The National Gallery, London
- Museo Nacional del Prado
- Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina
Sofía
- Musee d’Orsay
- Louvre Museum
- Rijksmuseum
- Van Gogh's Museum
- Natinal Gallery of Ireland
- Belvedere
- Kunsthistorisches Museum
- Mimara Museum
- Museum of Arts and Crafts
- Museum of Contemporary Art
- Gallery of Fine Arts Osijek
- Croatian Museum of Naive Arts

17. Visual Content Method
• Museum trademark
• Composition of the website
• Online collections
• Multimedia
• User communication
• Social network links
• Languages available
• Merchandise

18. Hypothesis
• Croatian museums have not yet recognised the
importance of a well developed system of visual identity
and communication with the users, making their websites
less effective in conveying messages than their European
counterparts.

19. Results...

20. Museum trademark
• Seven out of ten European museums have their logos
displayed on the homepage
• All of the Croatian museums have some kind of a
trademark

21. Online collections
• Significant differences in the quality and number of
options available between European and Croatian
museums
• Seven out of ten European museums - enlargement
enabling the user see the finer details
• Croatian museums - limited options allowing users to
only slightly enlarge the images

22. Online collections
• Download options:
- four of the ten European museums do not allow
any kind of saving, while the rest do, but only two
of them have a visible download button
- four Croatian museums allow saving by right
clicking

23. Multimedia
• Virtual tours:
- two out of ten
European websites
provide virtual tours
- none of the Croatian
museums have virtual
tours

24. Multimedia
• Audiovisual content and
multimedia guides:
- common in both European
and Croatian websites
- Apps - none of the
Croatian, and five of the
European museums have a
mobile app
- responsive site - none of
the Croatian and only two
European sites are
responsive

25. Communication with the user
• Basic contact information:
a telephone number
an e-mail address
contact forms
- all of the evaluated websites

26. Communication with the user
• Newsletters:
- six out of ten European, and one out of five Croatian
museums offer a subscription to the museums newsletter

27. Social network links
• Most commonly used network is Facebook
• Other frequently used networks are Google+,Twitter and
YouTube
• Trip Advisor use two of the Croatian museums

28. Languange
• European museums - usually English, Italian and German
• Croatian museums – English and Croatian

29. Merchandise
• Online giftshop:
- seven out of ten European museums offer souvenirs and
promotional materials in online giftshops, while only one
Croatian offers the same service.

30. Conclusion...

31. Thank you!