The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) opened its doors in 1916, with
funds and land donated by four local businessmen. Its substantial endowment
makes it one of the wealthiest museums in the United States. The collection of
43,000 works is especially strong in Asian and Egyptian art. The CMA’s main
About Us page is here.
OVERALL GRADE: B plus
For websites with more than one page under the About Us tab,
the main page should be a portal that lures visitors to other pages. The CMA’s mainAbout Us page entices with witty visuals matched with its 12 options,
including a portrait of George Washington for Museum Leadership
and a scroll of hieroglyphics for Contact Us. Even
better, these 12 images are tidily arranged to fit on a single screen, making
it easy for a visitor to see all the options. Well done! We’ll be curious to
see what CMA does for its 100th business anniversary next year.
Products/Services and
Personality: B
The History
and Mission page gives an overview of the Museum’s development via what each
of its ten directors chose to focus on—an interesting structure that offers
some subtle corporate storytelling. The founders get their own page, with an
image of each and an explanation of how he became interested in art. The Inaugural
Exhibition of 1916 also has a page. The Building
page offers a slightly different perspective: when and why different expansions
were undertaken. Take a lesson from the CMA: If your institutional or corporate
history is long and complex, presenting it from different angles on several
pages is a great choice.
Our Commandment 6
of About Us pages is, “Honor thy visuals.” That’s particularly true for an
arts museum, since one of the best ways to get people to visit is to show them
the treasures that await. In this respect, the CMA pages fall short. Most pages
have a single large photo at the top; it's not obvious that one can click on it to see more, and that some of the text below applies to these various images. On Picture
This: CMA Photographic History, why not make all the photos visible, each
above its corresponding text, rather than making us click through photos at the
top, and then scroll down to the relevant text? On the Inaugural
Exhibition page, why not space the images through the text? On the Building
page, why not show galleries then and now, as they're discussed? On the History
and Mission page, why not put the images with the directors, and for the sake of luring people in, show a notable acquisition of each director? And,
for yet another perspective, why not have a timeline of collection highlights, with
brief notes on why each was considered worth acquiring?
Accessibility: A
CMA boasts that it was created “for the benefit of all the
people forever,” and their Contact us page suggests
that they are in fact interested in hearing from people – a relative rarity
among large institutions. Next to the CMA’s general contact information is the
query, “Have a question for Director William Griswold?” – with his email. For
those who don’t want to go straight to the top, the Contact Us page links to a directory
with emails for dozens of departments, from Administration to Visitor Services.
TAKEAWAY
If you have a rich history, try telling it from several
different angles – but don’t forget to include great text and visuals.
Does your Web site’s “About Us” section
accurately convey your organization’s history and capabilities? Every two weeks
we evaluate one example, grading it in three areas that are key to potential
customers: Personality (Who are you?), Products/Services (What can you do for
us?), and Accessibility (How can we reach you?). To talk about your About Us
page, contact us!
Today’s example was chosen at random;
CorporateHistory.net has no ties to this company.
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