Dayton Art Institute

Process

We used a traditional waterfall process when putting together the Dayton Art Institute website. This process provided them the most linear approach towards their goal with their team structure.

Background

Essentially there was nothing wrong with DAI’s website. The pages were informative and thick with keywords. Content updates were plentiful thanks to constantly changing exhibitions. And most importantly, the art looked fantastic. So why redo the website? That answer was simple. The time had come for DAI to rebrand and cater to visitors other than those on a desktop.

Requirements and analysis

DAI had it made as far as problems go. The majority of their content was ready to be updated by excited teams. The in-house designers were preparing art for the upcoming year of exhibitions about to wander its halls. The management was eager to roll out the new look and feel of their brand. As far as new projects go, this one seemed very straight forward. I was to update the current website with the latest Dayton Art Institute branding and provide them with an accessible mobile experience for their customers to roam their galleries with.

Coding, testing, deployment and maintenance.

Upon exploring their previous websites setup I was told they would like to update their Drupal 6 content management system (CMS) to the latest WordPress CMS. Drupal provided them more customization, but they had heard good things and wanted to see what the fuss was about. I set the DAI team up with two demo servers installed with the latest WordPress and Drupal CMS. After a week they agreed that WordPress was right for them and I got started.

Hosting was an area they had a strong opinion on. They wanted to explore what Google and Amazon had to offer, but they did not want to have to maintain it in house. After some research I set them up with Kinsta. Kinsta hosting provided them with a secure Google cloud platform that is optimized, scaled and maintained by Kinsta’s teams year round. They are extremely hands off, but should the need arise provide top tier service and support near immediately.

We agreed that making updates to the site without knowing code would be a very limiting experience for them. I set them up with a visual composer system that would allow them to make content updates and modify layouts without the knowledge of developing code. Next I provided them with some interactive elements to better communicate with their guests. These included an interactive calendar, motion graphic layers and an automating hours system to let guests know on page load if the museum is or isn’t open. 

Lastly, I created a manual on how to operate their new website. It deployed in late 2020 and I have been providing ongoing maintenance for them as needed in order to make sure they are able to provide the most accessible experience possible for their visitors.

Results and takeaways

The final result was a major success. Not only did the museum and its guests love the new look and features of the website, but it came at an extremely serendipitous time. When COVID-19 brought itself to Ohio the museum had to close its doors for the safety of themselves and their patrons. The new website gave the regular guests and those looking for an escape a gateway into new worlds of art and cultures they sorely needed.