This week American based marketing magazine OMMA interviewed me as ‘an industry expert’ about the new MoMA website, so I had a great excuse to spend some serious time looking round the site and trying out some of its new features.
My first impression of the new website when compared to its previous incarnation is that it seems to have shifted its focus from being centered around the institution and its collection, to now be focused on the user and the way in which they want to interact and experience MoMA.
The menu bar at the bottom of the image rich homepage invites me to select a perspective from which to visit the website, this could be as a ‘first time visitor’, ’someone who wants to visit with family’ or as a ‘filmgoer’ to name a few, selecting an option changes the information I am shown as I look around the website and feels really personalised.
Another aspect of the menu bar which I really liked was the ability for visitors to join the website. Once I had done this I could bookmark events or exhibitions that I liked, save artworks from their 25,000 image archive, build my own online exhibitions to share with friends and add notes to artworks.
I think the new website will change people’s perceptions of MoMA, making it seem more accessible, more user-centred and more relevant to its audiences, helping to project the perception of a place of exchange where people debate what makes great art, rather than the hallowed halls of one of the world’s most prestigious art collections. I feel that this makes great sense in a post-Facebook world.
Lots of museums and galleries are making use of social media with venues such as Brooklyn Museum and Tate leading the way, but I don’t think anyone has integrated these kind of features into their website as successfully as this.
For me, MoMA have raised the bar and I think museums and galleries can learn a lot from their user-centered approach.
My full interview about MoMA.org with OMMA will appear in their magazine next month.
