Hi Jennifer,

 

I really don’t mean this to sound like a plug for my employer’s website, but do check it out!

 

http://www.hrp.org.uk/

 

It’s deliberately designed to be quite ‘quirky’ and you might like to think whether that appeals to you – or not. For example:

 

1. Look at the “Join Henry VIII” pages on the Hampton Court section.
2. Look at the “Enchanted Palace” clip on the Kensington Palace section.
3. On the homepage click on “Discover the Palaces” at the top of the screen and check out some of our online games!

 

The more sites you look at the better: it will definitely help you decide what you do and don’t like. Keep a note of the sites you do like: it’s helpful to prospective website designers if you can make statements like “we want a site along the lines of the XYZ museum”.

 

You mention quite a few ideas on what you might like to offer: I think another important factor is what audience you are trying to reach! And do you want to use the new website as a means of reaching new audiences? This should help you focus on the type of development you are looking for. For example, if you are aiming at the high end of the market with “collections rich” content, then the idea of viral games may have no interest at all! However if you are aiming at teenagers and those in their 20’s then interactives are the way to go. Given that your museum has a very specific subject area i.e. ” the fight for the American woman's right to vote” I’ll hazard a guess that widening your audience is a key objective and you would like to use your new website to assist you in that aim?

 

I see you have a museum shop on your current website: are you considering an online shop – or might that be a stage two?

 

I hope that is some help!

 

Regards,

 

Jerry Symonds – Senior Internal Auditor – Historic Royal Palaces

Surrey, England

 

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jennifer Krafchik
Sent: 30 April 2010 16:03
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Website Redesign

 

Hello everyone,

 

We are about to begin the process of redesigning our website over the next year and I wanted to get some input from others.  We would like to offer virtual tours, some interactive components, integration of our collections database and much more.  We are just beginning to think about all of this so really don’t have a true idea of what we want at this point and are looking for some guidance.  Would anyone be willing to share some of the museum websites you really like and the reasons why?  Thanks so much for your help!

 

Jennifer Krafchik

Director of Collections

Sewall-Belmont House and Museum

144 Constitution Avenue, NE

Washington, D.C. 20002

 

(202) 546.1210, extension 11

(202) 546.3997 (Fax)

 

www.sewallbelmont.org