Top 10 Websites

Excellent examples of how a museum can communicate effectively with their online audience:

Musée Galliera

Paris, France

Only critique is that they don’t list their staff, which would be interesting to know, but at least they include a contact form.

armures-illu3_01Musée de l’Armée (The Army Museum)

Paris, France

Only critique is that they don’t state obviously enough what city they’re located in.

 

World Jewelry Museum

Seoul, South Korea

 

AboutInternational Quilt Study Center & Museum

Lincoln, Nebraska (USA)

 

 

Textile Museum of Canada

Toronto, Ontario

 

 

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Exhibition websites that stand out for their clarity, photography, and introduction to their subject:

Dress Codes: Revealing the Jewish Wardrobe

 

 

 

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There are so many excellent collections of fashion & textiles at museums all over the world, but not all collections are presented in a way that properly demonstrate their value to the public. This website showcases not only the collections themselves, but also how they are marketed to their potential audience. What makes a good website? Good museums recognize that any online audience is a potentially international audience, who may not know anything about the museum, and focus on these essential components:

  1. Basic information in an obvious location: you’d think this would be obvious, but too many museums don’t include basic information like what city they are located in (best place is in the footer!) or if there is a permanent exhibition available for viewing by a drop-in visitor.
  2. Concise summary of the fashion & textile collection (on its own easy-to-find page if part of a broader collection). What is the overall scope? What is unique about the collection? What are some highlights? This introduces a new visitor to the collection, and makes it stand out from the many other museum collections out there. There should be a thorough English translation – too many websites translate only part of their websites (which is a great first step!) but they often miss out on sharing the most unique and interesting parts of their collections.
  3. Description of permanent exhibition, along with current, past and future temporary exhibitions: this demonstrates the conceptual approach of the museum curators, and encourages potential visitors to actually come to the museum.
  4. Top quality photographs showcasing highlights of the collection: the ability to search a collection is wonderful, but even more important is for the museum to first introduce the visitor to examples of what they might find in that collection.
  5. Museum staff: shows size and capacity of collection, and provides ability for researchers to contact museum for further inquiries.

 

Still adding to the list! If you know of a website that you think is amazing, let me know.