This is the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s ArtScope, a visual browsing tool containing 3,500 works from the museum’s permanent collection. What I think is interesting about the interface of the SFMOMA ArtScope is not only the choice to include the art itself as the center design of the interface (since showcasing the art is the project’s objective) but also the choice to display the art side by side with other works. No matter how far you zoom in on a specific work, you will still see other art works alongside it. This kind of interface seems more true to a museum experience, since even while viewing a work of art, we can usually see other works in our peripheral vision, and the placement of these works undoubtedly effects the experience of viewing each individual work. Through the website’s use of a “zoomed lens” to view individual works within a larger image, we are hyper-aware that each individual work is just one of a much larger collection. Furthermore, having an interface which allows the viewer to manipulate the view of the images places the visual at the forefront of the website’s experience. Although there is a sidebar which allows you to search for specific works, first time users will undoubtedly begin by playing with the image manipulation before looking for a specific work, exposing users to art which they otherwise might not have viewed.
There are also some aspects about this interface that I find troubling, mostly related to transparency. For example, the manner in which the items are organized isn’t disclosed. Also, although clicking on each work supplies the user with a few keywords, there isn’t any way to view all of the metadata for the website, which would probably help users search for specific works.
