Visual communication of Museum websites:

Analysis and comparison of European and Croatian

art museums

Students: Milan Balać, Mia Kuzmić and Iva Magušić – Dumančić

Mentor: Josipa Selthofer

Introduction

What is Visual Communication?

„The most powerful, meaningful and culturally

important messages are those that combine words

and pictures equally and respectfully.”

Paul Martin Lester

What is Visual Communication?

• A way of conveying information using visual elements like typography, symbols, images, color etc.

A picture is worth a thousand words

• Humans perceive somewhere between 70% and 80% of information visually

• Visual elements provide context

• When used right, they make the messages more clear and believable

• When missused, they dilute the messages

Visual Communication Design

Informing and evoking interest

VCD

• Process of „interpretation, organization, and visual representation of messages”

• It relies on the use of different principles and visual elements to create a visual language

• Visual communication needs to be appealing, appropirate, easily understood and memorable – it exists not only to inform, but to evoke interest.

VCD on the Internet

• Follows the same rules

• Home page is the anchor of the site – it communicates the big picture

• Home page should answer questions like:

• Where am I?

• What can be found on this website?

• How do I search through it?

• What are the current events?

Methodology

Museums

Europe (Art Museums): Croatia (Art Museums):

- The National Gallery, London- Museo Nacional del Prado- Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina

Sofía- Musee d’Orsay- Louvre Museum- Rijksmuseum- Van Gogh's Museum- Natinal Gallery of Ireland- Belvedere- Kunsthistorisches Museum

- Mimara Museum- Museum of Arts and Crafts- Museum of Contemporary Art- Gallery of Fine Arts Osijek- Croatian Museum of Naive Arts

Visual Content Method

• Museum trademark

• Composition of the website

• Online collections

• Multimedia

• User communication

• Social network links

• Languages available

• Merchandise

Hypothesis

• Croatian museums have not yet recognised the importance of a well developed system of visual identity and communication with the users, making their websites less effective in conveying messages than their European counterparts.

Results...

Museum trademark

• Seven out of ten European museums have their logos displayed on the homepage

• All of the Croatian museums have some kind of a trademark

Online collections

• Significant differences in the quality and number of options available between European and Croatian museums

• Seven out of ten European museums - enlargement enabling the user see the finer details

• Croatian museums - limited options allowing users to only slightly enlarge the images

Online collections

• Download options:

- four of the ten European museums do not allow any kind of saving, while the rest do, but only two of them have a visible download button - four Croatian museums allow saving by right clicking

Multimedia

• Virtual tours: - two out of ten European websites provide virtual tours - none of the Croatian museums have virtual tours

Multimedia

• Audiovisual content and multimedia guides:- common in both European and Croatian websites - Apps - none of the Croatian, and five of the European museums have a mobile app - responsive site - none of the Croatian and only two European sites are responsive

Communication with the user

• Basic contact information: a telephone numberan e-mail address contact forms - all of the evaluated websites

Communication with the user

• Newsletters:- six out of ten European, and one out of five Croatian museums offer a subscription to the museums newsletter

Social network links

• Most commonly used network is Facebook

• Other frequently used networks are Google+, Twitter and YouTube

• Trip Advisor use two of the Croatian museums

Languange

• European museums - usually English, Italian and German

• Croatian museums – English and Croatian

Merchandise

• Online giftshop:- seven out of ten European museums offer souvenirs and promotional materials in online giftshops, while only one Croatian offers the same service.

Conclusion...

Thank you!