National Gallery of Iceland

The new website of the National Gallery unveils a unique collection of Icelandic art, and everyone is warmly invited. The site provides easy access to information about the museum's premises, which are located in three different areas of Reykjavik. It emphasizes that the operations extend far beyond traditional exhibitions. Website users can explore the art collection, educational initiatives, and research efforts.

Greipur Gíslason, Bergur Ebbi, and E&co were our partners in this project alongside the National Gallery.

The National Gallery made a significant advancement in public access to Icelandic visual art with its new website and search engine. They utilized Algolia's search engine solution, which records all of the National Gallery's works as they appear on Sarpur.is, a cultural historical database that the National Gallery is a part of. This integration allows the National Gallery's search engine to combine its own data and photographs with Sarpur's records, greatly enhancing search speed and intelligence.

During our strategy development and user research, we discovered that guests often struggled to understand the gallery's location and layout, as it spans three separate buildings. The entrance to the main gallery at Fríkirkjuvegur was confusing to some. As a result, we chose to focus on creating a homepage video that guides visitors to the buildings and emphasizes that there are multiple buildings. The characteristics of each building are highlighted in the photographs. The videos were produced in collaboration with Skjáskot, and Svanhildur Kristjánsdóttir took the photographs.

The result is a website that brings the National Gallery of Iceland closer to the present and to the public. The entire website and its appearance were simplified by aligning content and making it more consistent. The presentation of basic information was greatly improved, such as opening hours, location of the museum buildings, and activities. Exhibitions and artworks are given higher priority with refined exhibition pages, a powerful search function, and beautiful and functional design.