Art Gallery of Ontario

A digital gateway to engage museum visitors

OVERVIEW

Revamping AGO’s digital presence for global audiences

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), located in Toronto, Ontario, is one of North America's largest and most prestigious art museums. With a collection of over 90,000 artworks, the AGO features a diverse array of pieces, from contemporary art to classic masterpieces, including notable Canadian and Indigenous works. The gallery welcomes over a million visitors annually, serving as a vital cultural hub that connects people through art and offers new perspectives on the world.

CHALLENGES

Revamping findability with a bold new vision

The previous website had issues with findability, making it difficult for users to quickly and efficiently access information. With a wide variety of events and parallel exhibitions, each with distinct visual qualities, the design needed to showcase these while maintaining a strong AGO brand presence. As this was the first visual rollout of the new brand, it was crucial to establish a creative direction and best practices for design components throughout the site.

GOALS

Alluring new visitors & boosting memberships

The AGO aimed to attract new visitors and boost memberships, which are key to its business strategy. The project focused on simplifying the user experience, making it easier for visitors to find information about exhibitions and events from the homepage, while also catering to other audiences such as members, donors, and staff. This was also an opportunity to apply the Gallery’s new brand across the website.

SOLUTIONS

Raising AGO’s digital brand presence to higher levels of creativity

We revamped the AGO homepage to create a more user-friendly and visually engaging experience, focusing on key goals:

Simplified Navigation: Designed a clear and intuitive layout that makes it easy for users to find information about exhibitions, events, and memberships right from the homepage.

Visual Engagement: Integrated bold visuals and animations, including an animated “What’s On Today” module, to highlight current events and exhibitions while enhancing user immersion.

User-Centered Design: Leveraged user research to improve the clarity of membership options and enhance the visibility of exhibition-related events. We also used asymmetric layouts and dynamic elements that reflect AGO’s gallery style.

Accessibility: Simplified language and improved usability, ensuring the site is accessible to diverse audiences, including international visitors.

Brand Integration: Applied AGO’s new brand across the site, using design elements like horizontal lines and overlapping images to create a cohesive and modern digital identity.

RESULTS

Captivating design to attract & convert

The redesigned homepage offers a streamlined, engaging user experience that effectively showcases AGO's offerings and supports its goal of attracting new visitors and promoting memberships. Next, we plan to extend these improvements to other key sections of the website.

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