Case Studies

The Micro Gallery system ran in the Sainsbury Wing for fourteen years, informing and entertaining millions of visitors. We worked extensively with the National Gallery to realise the potential of the Micro Gallery, in the process populating the Gallery's collections management system with up-to-date collections data, generating a best-selling CD-ROM spin-off 'Microsoft Art Gallery: The Collection of the National Gallery, London', and populating the editorial system for the Gallery's definitive 'Complete Illustrated Catalogue' which then went on to produce a book and CD-ROM in its own right. The Micro Gallery has been widely acknowledged as a benchmark of its kind and has been extensively emulated elsewhere.

What They Said

'The system's ease and speed of use is impressive. It is also - may we say it - great fun. It encourages you to explore, to 'play' and thus make new connections and gain new insights. As such it is a very valuable educational tool.'
from 'The Sonic Hedgehog's Guide to Art' in Museums News, 1993-05

'All my life I've wanted something like this'
comment in Visitors Book, 1991

'Brilliant! Easy to use, and you learn a lot about the pictures. See you again soon!'
comment in Visitors Book, 1991

'Brilliant, third time I've used it'
comment in Visitors Survey 1992

'an extraordinary resource called the Micro Gallery, which was funded by American Express and is possibly the single most effective tool ever to help gallery-goers understand what they are looking at.'
Boston Sunday Globe, June 28, 1992; article by Christine Temin

'It's the most sophisticated museum computer system in the world, a model of what other museums will achieve in the 21st century.'
Boston Sunday Globe, June 28, 1992; article by Christine Temin.

Awards

The project won the British Computer Society Medal in 1992.