Designing a website for a museum or art gallery can be a challenging task, as it requires creating a visually appealing and user-friendly online platform that showcases the exhibits and events of the institution. A well-designed museum website can serve as a powerful tool for promoting exhibitions, booking visits, educating visitors, and attracting a wider audience. It can be a great opportunity to showcase exhibits and provide visitors with a rich, interactive experience. By offering a range of interactive features and providing in-depth information about your exhibits, you can inspire visitors to come and see them in person.
To help you get started on your own museum website design, we have compiled a list of the best museum websites for inspiration. These websites showcase unique designs, web page layouts, and color schemes that you can use as a starting point for your own museum website. Whether you are looking for a modern and sleek design, or a more traditional and classic look, these websites offer a range of design options to suit different aesthetics and needs.
The Best Museum Websites of 2023
In this post, we have compiled a list of 13 of our favorite museum websites that showcase unique design trends, web page layouts, and color schemes that you can draw inspiration from.
1. Petersen Automotive Museum
The Petersen Automotive Museum is a non-profit organization in Los Angeles that celebrates the history, industry, culture, and artistry of the automotive world. The museum's website has a clean and simple design, with visible links to book visits, buy tickets, view current events or exhibitions, and access the online store.
2. Griffith Observatory
Griffith Observatory is an icon of Los Angeles, a national leader in public astronomy, and one of southern California’s most popular attractions. This observatory website has super clear navigation, visually engaging imagery and a clear theme used throughout. Call to action buttons are very visible and stand out from backgrounds, bold and readable texts, member login area are all really great features that makes this museum website stand out.
3. Phoenix Art Museum
The PhxArt group is focused on mining activities in West America. It utilizes a functional museum websites design to exhibit various landscapes of extraction.
Landscape aesthetics aside, visitors can use the site’s Menu section to effortlessly explore multiple mining exhibitions, purchase tickets, or sign up for membership.
4. The MET
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City is the largest art museum in the Americas, with a website that holds over a thousand pages. Despite its size, the website has a simple layout that allows users to easily purchase tickets and access a wealth of resources, including courses, articles, and tutorials. The website's footer design also includes links to other pages that may not be in the top menu.
5. Van Gogh Museum
The Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam is a popular museum in Europe that offers both English and Dutch versions of its website. The website has a sleek design and is easy to navigate, with a prominent call to action to book tickets. The homepage features exhibitions with a visually appealing horizontal scroll, making it easy for visitors to explore what's on display at the museum.
6. Fans Hals Museum
This museum website from the Netherlands features a colorful, playful, and fun yellow design. The website is visually appealing and immaculate, making it an exciting resource for those interested in Frans Hals or 17th century gold age art culture. The website has a well-structured top menu and a floating sidebar icon menu for easy navigation.
7. Sergey Parajanov
The website for the Museum dedicated to Armenian film director Sergey Parajanov has a welcoming splash page and serves as an art portfolio website, showcasing the artist's work. The page layout throughout the website is unique and the choice of colors and fonts effectively complement the artist. The website does a good job of presenting the life and artworks of Sergey Parajanov in an visually appealing and informative manner.
8. National Museum of Play
The National Museum of Play, also known as The Strong, is one of the largest history museums in the United States and is known for its highly interactive exhibits and programs. The museum has an informative and easy-to-navigate website, making it a valuable resource for families. The website does a good job of highlighting the museum's offerings and making it easy for visitors to plan their visit.
9. USAir Force Million Peace Mission
AirForcepuzzle.com is a website that allows visitors to team up with others and learn about flight history in detail. The website also features the United States Air Force (USAF) museum layout design, which includes a digital puzzle that visitors can decipher. The puzzle is the largest of its kind on the internet, making it a unique and engaging feature of the website.
Check it out here.
10. Crypt Art
Crypt Art is an online gallery for rare collectibles and art that hosts exhibitions of basements, catacombs, tombs, and vaults. The website is known for organizing numerous yearly exhibitions and events and features a wide range of rare and interesting items.
Check it out here.
11. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Gardening enthusiasts can learn more about Isabella Stewart and her beautiful garden museum by visiting the website's About Us section. The website's functional design also allows visitors to browse the museum's gardens, art, exhibition programs, and music collection from the comfort of their own homes.
Check it out here.
12. Gabriel Cualladó the Photographer
The Gabriel Cualladó museum website features beautiful photographic displays that are considered among th