Museum
of Art Web Site Wins Award
Northampton
Mass.—The Smith College Museum of Art (SCMA) and Slate Roof
Studio (SRS) are pleased to announce joint receipt of the
2011 Judges Choice Award for Best Web site Redesign (For
institutional budgets of $500,000+) in the New England Museum
Association (NEMA)’s annual competition.
Interior Series: Lizard
Cup, by American artist Ken Price (1935-), on
view on the . |
NEMA is the leading
organization for museums of all sizes in New England and
has more than 1,300 members.
In the award announcement, Dan
Yaeger, Executive Director of NEMA stated:
“Your [Web site] design puts you in very good company at the top ranks of our
region’s institutions. This year, we received a tremendously competitive number
of applicants: 206 [entries] from 64 museums entered in 16 different categories.
The judges were extremely impressed with the high quality of all the entries,
and expressed pride to come from a region that produces such high caliber work.”
The Museum’s marketing team
(Margi Caplan, membership and marketing director, and Martha
Ebner, marketing and web coordinator) oversaw this project
and continue to manage . Under the direction
of the Museum’s marketing office, the entire Museum staff
was involved in all aspects of the project, from conception
to writing and design.
SCMA launched the first phase
of its redesigned web site in December 2010, following 15
months of development work with SRS. The new site
represents a complete reconsideration of how the Museum communicates
with its many audiences. The overarching goal is
to reveal and convey the Museum’s mission, holdings,
exhibitions, programs, and activities in a consistent voice,
dynamic style, and accessible format that is relevant and
useful to all.
The new site’s visual and verbal
content expanded more than 40 percent as a result of the
complete redesign—all made
more accessible with a new graphic design and reorganized
structure.
SCMA also won Second Place in
the category of Invitations-Exhibition design for a print
publication on “Susan Hiller: What Every Gardener Knows” (spring
2010). Carolyn Eckert served as the freelance designer and
Margi Caplan oversaw the project for the Museum.
Considered one of the finest
college art museums in the country, SCMA is known for its
distinguished collection of more than 20,000 objects from
all periods and cultures. The permanent collection includes
Modern painting and sculpture, works on paper, Western European
masterworks, antiquities, decorative arts, and emerging collections
of African, Asian, and Islamic art. Ever-changing exhibitions
reflect the growing diversity of the collection. In addition,
SCMA hosts free public programs for all ages, including monthly
Second Fridays and Family Days. Popular amenities include
award-winning artist-designed rest rooms, a series of 11
unique, handcrafted gallery benches, the Museum Shop, and
Riff’s Café.
Based in
Florence, Mass., (www.slateroofstudio.com)
produces interactive multimedia communications for educational
institutions and fine arts museums across the country. Their
projects include work on behalf of the Art Institute of Chicago
(which garnered a 2010 MUSE award from the American Association
of Museums), Addison Gallery of American Art, Albany Institute
of History and Art, and Middlebury College Museum of Art.
The Slate Roof team on the SCMA
project includes Slate Roof co-founders Cheri Cross and Tim
Toffoli, and ContentHere owner and principal Seth Gottlieb.
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