MOHAI
Digital
Summary
The Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI), is the largest private heritage organization in the State of Washington and an important cultural institution for the Puget Sound region. We designed and developed MOHAI’s new website to mimic the experience of physically engaging with the museum.
Background
Established in 1952, The Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI), maintains a collection of nearly 4 million artifacts, photographs, and archival materials that primarily focus on Seattle and the greater Puget Sound region.
Organization Type
Museum, Non–Profit
Assignment
Design and develop a new website that tells the history and captures the experience of being at the museum, and makes it easy for visitors to learn about what’s happening when they visit.
Client
MOHAI
Years
2016 — Present
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Approach
MOHAI is housed in the massive, historic Naval Reserve Armory and sits right on Lake Union. The experience of walking into MOHAI is historic in and of itself. We wanted the homepage of the site to match the excitement of physically entering MOHAI. On the homepage you are met with aerial, drone footage of the building and views of the surrounding area. Beyond their rotating exhibitions, the museum has an incredible number of events and public programming happening, so we made the museum’s calendar a prominent feature of the site. You can enter the date of your visit and see what is happening that day.
Research
Aerial Footage, Drones, Museum Visitor Trends
Reach
- MOHAI has around 4 million objects in their collection
URL
Quote
“We can now beautifully and dynamically showcase MOHAI’s collections, exhibitions, and programming to a global audience… Our hundreds of thousands of virtual visitors can easily navigate information and engage with the museum in many different ways. We are very grateful to our stellar MOHAI team and Seattle’s Civilization that made this new site a reality.”
— Leonard Garfield, Executive Director
Components
Digital Collateral System, Information Architecture, Wireframing, User Experience Design, User Interface Development, CMS Development
Technical Specs
HTML, CSS, WordPress, Javascript, AJAX, Responsive Design
Team
Principal: Michael Ellsworth
Principal: Corey Gutch
Creative Direction: Gabriel Stromberg
Web Development: Shaun Kardinal
Account Management: Elise Carlson and Raya Leary
The goal was to match the digital experience with the excitement and grandeur of physically entering the historic museum.
