Metropolitan Organization of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki (MOMus)
MOMus is a cultural organisation, a gateway to the vibrant visual art scene in Thessaloniki and Athens, encapsulating a rich cultural heritage, and being a focal point of cultural interest in Greece and South Europe.
Strategy, design, development, and implementation of a comprehensive digital ecosystem, including a website, an application for both IOS and Android, digital signage, a Digital Asset Management (DAM) and a Content Management System (CMS), and the digitalisation of 1000+ artworks of the organisation.
In today's digital world, the way we experience art and culture is constantly evolving. Foreseeing this need and by wanting to stay ahead of the curve, MOMus required a unified digital ecosystem that not only would enhance the end user/visitor experience but also streamline their internal operations
Hypertech made this happen by using the latest UX/UI design principles, incorporating user and client feedback in the process, and following the user-centered design (UCD) and Action-centred design (ACD) accordingly.
One of the most exciting aspects and team’s goals for the project was to ensure its scalability. As technological breakthroughs keep debuting on daily basis, it was obvious, even from the research phase, that the size of the project and the number of products that would be developed couldn’t be purely focused on the current user and client needs. Therefore, during the strategy and approach design, Hypertech made a decision in regard to the technologies and frameworks that would ensure a long-lasting course. From Drupal and Omeka S, to reusable components in design and development, all were carefully selected to seamlessly accommodate future expansions and technological advancements.
Interoperability was an additional element that was decided to reflect the products delivered. This was achieved by treating and considering all the products developed as part of a larger digital ecosystem that would not only offer consolidation within each specific product’s parts, but also among the systems communication. This means that for example the DAM would interact with the CMS, the CMS would update the website, the apps, and the signage, etc. saving the admins valuable time and minimizing the error margins.
To top it all, all activities were based on Agile methodology to ensure the robustness of the new digital ecosystem, easy pivoting whenever required, and repetitive circles of testing and adjustments.
Serving as the digital front door to the museum, the new MOMus website > https://www.momus.gr is a pivotal element in this multi-faceted project. Utilising UX principles and e-Culture trends, the site was planned and from now on serves an intuitive and logical navigation experience.
Built to be responsive across devices, the website facilitates effortless access to essential museum information, featured exhibitions, and educational programs as well as access to details on its expansive art collection. Hypertech also introduced new features (e.g. an interactive calendar, filters, and search functionalities) that added value to the overall experience and pushed further content discoverability.
The agile development methodology allowed for iterative refinements based on user and client feedback, making the website not just visually appealing, but also engaging, and functionally vigorous.
Watch the promo video >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A17AnqRMUyY
The MOMus Tour & Play App takes the museum experience to a new level, offering an engaging way for visitors to interact with art. Built using the latest mobile UX design principles and following a hybrid development approach, the app provides a blend of educational and interactive elements.
Whether it's through gamified features like "Treasure Hunts" or in-depth information about artworks, the app enhances the visitor experience. It serves as an educational tool that's both fun and informative, redefining how museums can leverage digital platforms to increase visitor engagement.
Download on Google Play >>> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.momus.momus&pli=1
Download on App Store >>> https://apps.apple.com/tr/app/momus-tour-play/id6450505129
The Digital Signage platform serves a vital role in expanding MOMus’s reach by the museums’ visitors. Designed with user engagement in mind, the system displays curated content in strategic locations, both within its museums and in various commercial areas where MOMus may want to include them. It serves as an additional touchpoint for educating passersby and visitors, effectively extending the MOMus brand beyond traditional boundaries.
The DAM system was another cornerstone of this comprehensive project, designed to revolutionise the way MOMus manages its extensive art collection from a single touch point. Utilising best practices in user-centered design (UCD) and action-centered design (ACD), the Omeka S system offers a user-friendly interface for efficient asset management.
For the case of MOMus assets were considered not only the digital representations of the art collections, but all the data and metadata that came with each one of them. Such examples are their titles, dimensions, description, creator, type, and any other detail that describe it in any possible way, that mostly make sense for the end user. These were carefully selected, based on popular corresponding standards such as Dublin Core and CIDOC-CRM, and now are also presented at the website, the app and the signage. Of course, other metadata, that are only of a high value to the museum curators and admins, remained safely in the system.
Apart from sorting out and organising such data and metadata for it to be suitably integrated and read by the DAM system, Hyperetch S.A. guaranteed for the system admins to be able to properly curate such content, edit and overall maintain all the MOMus heritage in a single and safe digital environment.
Overall, the DAM provides for MOMus a unified platform where every piece of art is given a unique digital identity, simplifying both internal workflows and external engagement. The agile approach ensured the system's strength and scalability, allowing for future expansions and refinements.
Based on Drupal, the Content Management System that was developed for MOMus was designed to be the center of all the front-end products. The organisation’s users now have a one-stop system through which they can arrange all the content updates for the website, the app, and the digital signage as well as multiple points within them.
The navigation within the system is also based on the principles of the UCD and therefore, allows the organisation’s content editors to easily discover the sections, quickly create or update content, and delete the parts that no longer offer value.
One of the challenges of the project was to enrich the organisation’s heritage in the digital world. As the implementation of a DAM system was in progress and the new website from now on would also facilitate a new section for the MOMus collections, allowing the users to discover the artworks, it was important to augment the current digital database with more quality digital representations of the artworks.
For this purpose, Hypertech digitalised more than 1.000 of the most significant works of art that the organisation has in its possession. The procedure was carried out with strict professionalism and respect for the art, making all the steps carefully designed and agreed among the parties involved. The guidelines of the digitalisation itself were clearly defined and required top quality, so that the organisation could use it in all forms, from high-quality printable material to digital versions for the online users to get inspired.
Discover all the digitalised material of MOMus at >>> https://www.momus.gr/collections
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