Web and mobile
Nicola Sullivan finds out how a popular new domain name can do wonders for museums and galleries
Website
.ART
Museums, galleries and arts organisations from all over the world have been invited to promote their work by adopting the domain name “.art”. Organisations can use it to create new websites that showcase new content, or apply it to content from existing websites. Among the 60 museums and arts organisations setting up new websites using .art are the Art Institute of Chicago, London’s Tate, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Advocates of .art claim it will preserve the cultural legacy of the global art world, promote art collections, strengthen brands and clearly identify an organisation as belonging to the arts. Those wanting to register with .art do so through the newly launched website www.art.art.
Its design is simple, bold and futuristic.
The main focus of the homepage is a revolving carousel of images of institutions that will adopt or have adopted the domain name. An eye-catching yellow circle constantly hovers at the corner of each image, taking visitors to a page of videos featuring institutions describing the benefits of .art. These are followed by the logos of institutions, artists or collectors that have set up .art websites or are in the process of doing so.
The website’s drop-down menu helpfully takes users to pages labelled What, Who, Why and When, which succinctly describe the need for .art and its benefits. The text is short and snappy and broken up using bullet points. Interestingly, this menu is boldly replicated on the homepage in a series of brightly coloured boxes – an effective way of ensuring key messages are not missed.
This site is simple, and powerfully illustrates the strength and benefits of a common domain name for the art world.
www.art.art
App
Poetic Places
This magical app summons up poetry and prose as you walk around London: the perfect accompaniment to sightseeing. Developed by the British Library with the consultancy Time/Image, it adds a new dimension to a trip around the city.
I recommend leaving Poetic Places running so that it will send you push notifications about poems inspired by your current location. I enjoyed this option for its element of surprise.
As I walked down the Embankment, lines from a DH Lawrence poem, Embankment at Night, Before the War – Charity, flooded into my pocket:
“By the river
In the black wet night as the furtive rain slinks down, Dropping and starting from sleep, Alone on a seat,
A woman crouches.”
Alternatively, users can actively hunt out poems and places pinpointed on Google Maps. Often there is an audio recital of the poem – especially handy in congested places, when stopping to read won’t do you any favours.
Each poem is accompanied by images of items, paintings or photographs from museum collections; and poems and places are searchable in list form, making it easy to locate your favourite writers. A poetry and prose section, not linked to the map, makes for interesting browsing on the bus or the tube.
A music section didn’t seem integrated with the rest of the app – I could only access two tracks, with no information about their relevance. With development, however, this could be a compelling element.
I really loved this app, which brings poetry into everyday life and shows how new technology can enhance appreciation of literature and art. NS
Online game
Gen
This explorative strategy game for children, which interprets the field of biomedical science, is the result of a collaboration between National Museums Scotland (NMS) and Aardman, the Bristol-based animation studio that created the much-loved Wallace and Gromit series.
Players start with a brightly coloured blob called Gen that burps, vomits and groans with pain – and no wonder: the poor creature is constantly plagued by a range of minor and major health conditions.
But Gen, though only a blob, quickly wins your affections for its sheer stoicism.
It is not necessary to download the app to play the game, which is hosted on a website that is compatible with a smartphone, tablet or computer.
Play involves using biomedical objects from NMS’s collections to diagnose and treat ailments, aided by animated instructions and helpful prompts. Question marks hover over vital organs to identify a problem, which players can address by playing diagnosis and treatment cards.
Descriptions are given of what the ailment is doing to Gen’s blob-like body and how the procedure, medication or implement will improve, eradicate or worsen the condition. Gen may die if the player prescribes the wrong treatments.
Players of Gen are constantly reminded of the link between the museum’s objects and the game, which encourages further exploration of the collections held by NMS. Visitors to Edinburgh’s National Museum of Scotland receive codes to unlock special features, for example.
Gen is an original and funny game that aids learning in serious matters. NS
www.nms.ac.uk/explore/games/gen
.ART
Museums, galleries and arts organisations from all over the world have been invited to promote their work by adopting the domain name “.art”. Organisations can use it to create new websites that showcase new content, or apply it to content from existing websites. Among the 60 museums and arts organisations setting up new websites using .art are the Art Institute of Chicago, London’s Tate, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Advocates of .art claim it will preserve the cultural legacy of the global art world, promote art collections, strengthen brands and clearly identify an organisation as belonging to the arts. Those wanting to register with .art do so through the newly launched website www.art.art.
Its design is simple, bold and futuristic.
The main focus of the homepage is a revolving carousel of images of institutions that will adopt or have adopted the domain name. An eye-catching yellow circle constantly hovers at the corner of each image, taking visitors to a page of videos featuring institutions describing the benefits of .art. These are followed by the logos of institutions, artists or collectors that have set up .art websites or are in the process of doing so.
The website’s drop-down menu helpfully takes users to pages labelled What, Who, Why and When, which succinctly describe the need for .art and its benefits. The text is short and snappy and broken up using bullet points. Interestingly, this menu is boldly replicated on the homepage in a series of brightly coloured boxes – an effective way of ensuring key messages are not missed.
This site is simple, and powerfully illustrates the strength and benefits of a common domain name for the art world.
www.art.art
App
Poetic Places
This magical app summons up poetry and prose as you walk around London: the perfect accompaniment to sightseeing. Developed by the British Library with the consultancy Time/Image, it adds a new dimension to a trip around the city.
I recommend leaving Poetic Places running so that it will send you push notifications about poems inspired by your current location. I enjoyed this option for its element of surprise.
As I walked down the Embankment, lines from a DH Lawrence poem, Embankment at Night, Before the War – Charity, flooded into my pocket:
“By the river
In the black wet night as the furtive rain slinks down, Dropping and starting from sleep, Alone on a seat,
A woman crouches.”
Alternatively, users can actively hunt out poems and places pinpointed on Google Maps. Often there is an audio recital of the poem – especially handy in congested places, when stopping to read won’t do you any favours.
Each poem is accompanied by images of items, paintings or photographs from museum collections; and poems and places are searchable in list form, making it easy to locate your favourite writers. A poetry and prose section, not linked to the map, makes for interesting browsing on the bus or the tube.
A music section didn’t seem integrated with the rest of the app – I could only access two tracks, with no information about their relevance. With development, however, this could be a compelling element.
I really loved this app, which brings poetry into everyday life and shows how new technology can enhance appreciation of literature and art. NS
Online game
Gen
This explorative strategy game for children, which interprets the field of biomedical science, is the result of a collaboration between National Museums Scotland (NMS) and Aardman, the Bristol-based animation studio that created the much-loved Wallace and Gromit series.
Players start with a brightly coloured blob called Gen that burps, vomits and groans with pain – and no wonder: the poor creature is constantly plagued by a range of minor and major health conditions.
But Gen, though only a blob, quickly wins your affections for its sheer stoicism.
It is not necessary to download the app to play the game, which is hosted on a website that is compatible with a smartphone, tablet or computer.
Play involves using biomedical objects from NMS’s collections to diagnose and treat ailments, aided by animated instructions and helpful prompts. Question marks hover over vital organs to identify a problem, which players can address by playing diagnosis and treatment cards.
Descriptions are given of what the ailment is doing to Gen’s blob-like body and how the procedure, medication or implement will improve, eradicate or worsen the condition. Gen may die if the player prescribes the wrong treatments.
Players of Gen are constantly reminded of the link between the museum’s objects and the game, which encourages further exploration of the collections held by NMS. Visitors to Edinburgh’s National Museum of Scotland receive codes to unlock special features, for example.
Gen is an original and funny game that aids learning in serious matters. NS
www.nms.ac.uk/explore/games/gen