Assign4: Museum Research

MOMA Website

Header

New Museum I chose this first layout because I liked the emphasis on the sites calender. By putting NOW boldly on the side the viewer is tempted to click and explore upcoming events at New Museum. The simplicity of the layout makes it easy to navigate and the slides on the homepage are a nice way of making the museum's art the main focus of this layout. New Museum Website

MoMA: Museum of Modern Art I chose this second website for its use of bright simple colors to liven up the white homepage. The homepage is composed of images promoting featured artists and their artwork. The clean layout with bold headings makes it easy to move about the website.

MOCA: Museum of Contemporary Art I chose this MOCA layout because of the simple use of images and text. This website does not have any moving images, only 4 featured pieces. The simplicity is appealing because it doesn't overwhelm the viewer. If they want to see what else is going on they can visit the calender. Putting 4 main images on the homepage gives those pieces extra importance, it would be nice if they rotated these out frequently to highlight different artwork and keep the homepage fresh. MOCA Website

SFMOMA The SFMOMA website has a similar layout to the MoMA and the New Museum in that they all have a primarily white homepage. This is a nice way for the website to show focus on the art work above all else. I really like the transition in the slide show, its fun and the use of black lines and squares lends to the modern art theme. I think the most successful homepages are ones that you are not required to scroll down, the designer of the SFMOMA site fit all important information on one page, this makes it look much more unified. SFMOMA Website

MCA Chicago Unlike the last layout, MCA Chicago uses the scroll down to its advantage. At the top of the page there is a slideshow that highlights pieces in the museum. If you scroll down there is a list of upcoming events you can click to purchase tickets. I think this is successful because it makes it very easy to find and purchase event tickets. The colors all work together nicely and the simple font ties it all together. MCA Chicago Website

Guggenheim This layout wasn't my favorite because I got visually exhausted when I looked at it. I think it is very close to a great design it is just missing some breathing room for our eyes. By cramming everything together I felt overwhelmed. The colors could be simplified and some of the text resized a bit smaller. As far as usability I think this website serves its purpose well. You can certainly find what you're looking for when you visit the site. Guggenheim Website