Cogapp celebrates launch of the new Metropolitan Museum of Art website

“We hope that the new website will provide our online visitors with immediate, easy-to-navigate access to the works of art in our collection, including beautiful photography and in-depth information prepared by the Museum’s experts who study and care for them.

We want the new site to present our global audiences with an elegant and user-friendly online experience of the entire Museum, inspiring visits to our main building and The Cloisters, and helping visitors move seamlessly between learning, planning, and participating online, and encountering face-to-face the magnificent works and the programs in our galleries.

We hope to evolve our site with the same breadth, depth, and level of excellence that our many audiences have come to expect from this museum.” 

Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of the Museum
26 September 2011

"We want the new site to present our global audiences with an elegant and user-friendly online experience of the entire Museum."

What we did

It’s Cogapp's largest, most complex project and possibly the largest digital media project yet undertaken by a museum.

So it is with great pride that we celebrate the launch of the new Metropolitan Museum of Art website (Metmuseum.org), which provides unprecedented access to collections, programs, research, and visitor information.

Introduction and overview
In 2009, Cogapp was commissioned to redesign the website for The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Vision
In 2011 the newly redeveloped website represents the Museum as a whole, serving its diverse audiences and showcasing its extensive collections, multiple exhibitions, scholarship opportunities, programs, and services.
Mobile
Cogapp developed a mobile optimised version of the website specifically to encourage visitors to the Museum and enhance their in-gallery experience.
Technology
The construction of the new website for the Metropolitan Museum of Art has been a major technical undertaking.
Graphic Design
A key theme of our design work was to encourage familiarity with the Museum by ensuring consistency between the online experience and physical building.
User Experience
The search to uncover the seducible moment has been at the heart of the user-centred approach to research and design used throughout the project.
Conclusion
Using the best in technology, user experience and design, The Metropolitan Museum of Art now has a platform that they can use to grow their online collection information and content over many years.

Responses to the site

The response to the new Metropolitan Museum of Art website has been overwelmingly positive.

Tweets

@MuseumsNYC: Have you seen the NEW @Metmuseum website? I LOVE the new Collection Search features. GREAT WORK! You guys earned this -> http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/120048643
@Guggenheim: We're sharing our bleated #MuseumLove with @metmuseum today. Kudos to a beautiful new website! metmuseum.org.
@CreativeReview: Big project from @Cogapp - a new website for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC metmuseum.org. Just the 340,000 objects catalogued.

Press coverage

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art official press release.
The New York Times
Website Review from The New York Times.
BBC Click
Alex Morrison and Matt Morgan from The Met discuss the new website on BBC Click.
Lines and Colors
Lines and Colors Blog reviews the new Met website.
Met Museum on Twitter
The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Twitter.

Videos

 

 

To find out more about our work on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's online collection, take a look at our paper: Providing Accessible Online Collections