The RISD Museum embarked on a redesign project to also reinvent what it means to be a 21st Century museum in the digital world. The redesign and replatform to an open source system underscored the museum’s new commitment to open source its entire collection online in the coming years.
Simplicity was the design mantra, allowing the work to be the star of the site. Access to data about an object, a publication, or an exhibition was also key. Messages were reduced to their essence and pathways through the site for different types of users were consolidated to require as few clicks as possible.
The new platform will continue to grow and support the new initiatives of the museum to contribute to digital conversations — encouraging collaboration, interpretation, and “remixing” of the imagery from our collection.