Beyond the Button

If you create content in a museum you will understand the need for engaging copy. Interestingly the short attention span of our online visitors is very similar to the fickle physical museum visitor browsing through an array of stimulating exhibits. That's why I think the wonderful flow of tips and tricks from Copyblogger is great reading for anyone writing blog posts or even more traditional exhibit copy. Copyblogger regularly posts on basic techniques you can follow to make your communication consumable and zingy; an important skill when you're trying to explain Plank's constant.

teens.walkerart.org - WACTACThe Walker Art Center launched a new version of their teen programs website. They took a fun approach to to very different needs that this site must meet. When you launch the site you get to pick whether you are there for business or play (adult or teen, cropped or ponytail). A slider that persists across the site lets you see the official institutional vision of the program or the voice of the teen participants in the program, complete with wicked unicorn background graphics.

mullet: Courtesy Chris FrewinI like to call this the mullet approach (I've stolen this concept from someone....I know...I just can't remember where I saw it first). Up front you've got the business haircut but in back you've got the party locks. It's a great approach for institutions who often need to present some "official information" even though we want to turn control over to our communities as well. Business in the front, party in the back.

Side to side: Courtesy Jorge FerrerGiven the side to side nature of the Walker website I suppose this guy's haircut is a little bit more appropriate of a metaphor. I just don't know what it is called.

Learn more about some of the decisions these wise folks made in building a new site on the New Media Initiatives blog. Beyond the two-face site design, they have decided to really give the youth in the program a voice of their own on the site. This is a great step that I hope we see in more museum youth programs. When will we start to see a similar approach to sites coming from the view of a museum's explainers, tour guides, or docents?