This project was a showcase for several online exhibits designed in conjunction with exhibitions at the Asia Society headquarters in New York. The design of each exhibition website was first created by understanding the specific issues, categories, and emphases, as well as the message the curators wanted to transmit, in order for better stories to be told with organized knowledge (not just data or rhetoric). The subject of Chinese revolutionary art in the exhibit from Art and China’s Revolution is one example; for that exhibit, the web structure was configured in a way that allowed curators to narrate various experiences and artistic developments of this complex period (1966-1976). For other subjects, like the traditional arts featured in Gilded Splendor: Treasure of China’s Liao Empire (907-1125), virtual tours of Liao tombs and 3-D diagrams were constructed to provide audiences a spatial and visual context for the exhibit before they dipped into unfamiliar historical topics.
Design Challenge
Each design had to be reorganized in a nuanced way using various formats of visual media corresponding to a taxonomy built by the curators of museum exhibits. At the same time, the constrained nature of the online exhibits had to engender a narrative experience that could direct an audience’s attention and keep them oriented through transitions.
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