CORPORATE WEBSITE
The design and development process of one of the most famous contemporary art museums in Venice.
User research
Content strategy
UI/UX design
Development
Palazzo Grassi — Punta della Dogana Venice Italy
A website for a contemporary art museum designed by users for users
Palazzo Grassi - Punta della Dogana are two contemporary art museums located in two of the most representative buildings in Venice. These museums were restored and set up by Tadao Ando, a Japanese architect. They host collective and monographic exhibitions.
The vocation of the museum is expressed in sharing with visitors the extraordinary Pinault Collection, to strengthen the privileged relationship, developed over the years, with artists, in particular, through the creation of works specifically conceived for its spaces.
The visitors, the users of the community and all members of the staff of Palazzo Grassi - Punta della Dogana were involved in the design process
Collaborative design
Thanks to the focus groups run with the staff of the museum, the communication needs of the different departments emerged.
The participation of users in comparison activities allowed us to obtain all the necessary information to structure the website with the right architecture and an effective hierarchy of the elements. The opinions collected helped us to evaluate the idea of including new sections.
2000 is the number of responses (opinions and pieces of advice) we received using an online questionnaire, which was shared on various digital channels - website, newsletter and social networks - with the aim of reaching as many people as possible.
People
The fruitful collaboration with the staff of Palazzo Grassi and the high level of users' involvement allowed us to identify four main user types of visitors.
Information architecture
The result of research and the participatory design gave us the chance to share and define the logical and semantic organizational structure of information, content, processes and functionalities within the website.
Each macro area was developed in a way to have a clear view of the hierarchy and of the interaction among the several sections.
The importance of having a clear view of the content
Since its opening, the museum has been collecting data on exhibitions. The initial logical arrangement of information did not correspond to the needs of the new website architecture.
Therefore, it’s important to get the whole picture of all the available contributions through a content inventory, which allows to analyze the quality of what is on the site on each page and define what should be added.
From prototyping via wireframe to HTML
Wireframe
Wireframing means creating a visual representation of the content on each page. It is essential to understand how navigation flows and how the user interacts with the web interface.
In this project, we opted for a design with a low-fi wireframe (low definition of details) and for proceeding directly to a HTML prototype.
Visual design
UX and UI design
In close collaboration with the Tassinara / Rivetta studio, we created the graphic design of the pages in line with the corporate communication of Palazzo Grassi - Punta della Dogana.
The phase of user testing is fundamental to understand if the design and the implementation of the system work and satisfy users
User Testing
The assessment of the user allows to evaluate the quality of the project and to identity further areas for improvement.
We did a usability test two weeks before and two months after going live. The results of both tests were very useful in order to improve the user experience.
Collaboration, creativity and commitment: the ingredients captured in the photogallery
Collaboration is a keyword to ensure the success of a project. Thanks to the visits, the follow-up meetings and the teamwork, the relationship between the staff of the museum and us deepened. The immediate consequence? A great work was done!
