Qatar Museums
Inspiring the Creation Generation
Doha, Qatar
About the project
qm.org.qa is a responsive, bilingual Arabic-English, media-rich website that supports one of the world’s most ambitious cultural programmes.
Its launch has been a collaboration between Qatar Museums, Wolff Olins and Cogapp; the three teams worked closely together to develop and deliver an online communications platform to exemplify the new brand.
The website provides a range of innovative features that encourage participation, nurture creativity, and showcase Qatar Museums’ diverse projects – which include new museums and galleries, exhibitions, public art, heritage sites and education programmes. The site is fully integrated with the rest of the Qatar Museums’ online and social media presence.
Prior to the design and build of the site, Cogapp undertook a six-month research programme into the unique requirements of Qatar Museums and its users. This ensured that the website was tightly tailored to fulfil its aims.
About Qatar Museums
On 18 May 2014, Qatar Museums celebrated a milestone on its remarkable journey with the announcement of a new organisational strategy, a new brand and a new online presence.
The organisation has a broad remit, including collecting art and artefacts, establishing museums, excavating and preserving historic sites, and organising exhibitions.
The new brand and identity will help the organisation become a 'cultural instigator for the creation generation' by delivering three principles: to take cultural experiences beyond the four walls of the museum; to nurture emerging talent; and to provide a platform for the voice of Qatar.
Website features
Replacing a conventional information architecture, the brand principles are ‘baked-in’ to the user-centric structure of the new site. The public-facing information is organised in three channels: Experience, Create, Connect. Together they take the user on a journey through the world of Qatar Museums.
In Conversation: a new outreach programme presents rich-media interviews with emerging local talent of all kinds.
Membership: The site is the hub for registrations to the new membership programme, Culture Pass. It gives users free access to exclusive events, and discounts around the museums.
Pattern Canvas: Allows visitors to express their creativity by designing, downloading and sharing their own digital versions of traditional Islamic designs. It has become a surprisingly popular area of the site.
Have Your Say: Questions are dotted around the site to encourage visitors to join the debate about Qatar Museums' programmes. It also provides a continuous stream of user feedback to help the organisation keep in touch with its users.
Blog: an illustrated blog allows users to peer inside the world of Qatar Museums and hear about what's happening day-to-day.
Creative Resources: a visual directory for artists working in Doha, helping them get to the supplies they need to be creative.
Social Media Hub: Qatar is exceptionally active on social media. Social media feeds surface conversations around the site, and the social media hub brings the core channels together in one place.
Awards
Best Cultural Experience at the fourth annual User Experience Awards (the UXies) in San Francisco.