The Frick Pittsburgh is more than just a museum. It’s a cultural destination that enables visitors to personalize their experience based on their interests, passions, and age group. We were thrilled to work with this iconic cultural spot in the Pittsburgh community.
The Frick Pittsburgh was in the midst of a transition from “hidden gem” to popular boutique museum and inclusive destination. The current website content management system restraints, however, limited the content and visual communication of their evolving identity. The new website needed to build on that transition, clearly communicate the variety of programs and activities at the location, increase registration and attendance, expand awareness of diverse collections, and improve the overall customer experience.
Together, our designers, developers, analysts, and project management staff worked to create a modern, welcoming website that invites users to personalize their experience of art, history, and nature. The final site is complete with intuitive functionality like the dynamic calendar that facilitates the exploration of exhibitions, programs, and daily events.
A comprehensive strategy set the foundation for the website project. During this phase, our team met with The Frick Pittsburgh staff to better understand the organization’s mission, purpose, goals, challenges, and users. Our marketing team created detailed site visitor persona cards that explored brand familiarity, site objectives, concerns, and important site content.
The biggest challenge in the strategy phase was determining the site information architecture that would enable users to clearly plan their visit, learn about the current programs and exhibits, view virtual collections, and gain a deeper understanding of the history of The Frick Pittsburgh. The strategy phase also included detailed content analysis through prototype generation as well as design exploration through mood board creation.
Positioning The Frick Pittsburgh as an accessible destination for all meant the design needed to be sleek and modern without looking exclusive. The Frick Pittsburgh team had recently re-branded with updated colors and fonts, and for the new site we iterated on that fresh, light, energetic look.
The Frick Pittsburgh team needed a more intuitive content journey for their users, but they also needed a better way of organizing and updating the content in the content management system. One of the functionality improvements for the website is the dynamic calendar that enables the administrative team to create various event types and designate event frequency. The calendar integrates with an on-site multiplex screen in the visitor center so museum guests can view current and upcoming events. The site also includes an intranet and custom layouts and functionality to display tiled stories, exhibitions, image galleries, and more.
The new website expands awareness of the collections and highlights special events, programs, educational offerings and traveling exhibits through an intuitive sitemap and engaging layouts. The strategic addition of personal stories displayed in a custom tiled blog format supports the concept of customizing a unique visitor experience based on various interests and audiences. We look forward to supporting The Frick Pittsburgh staff with ongoing website developments and enhancements.