Museum of the Modern Snowglobe News

Draw your own museum, part 2

Sun, 15 May 2011 20:35:07 -0700

Two weeks ago, during Somerville Open Studios, visitors to the museum had the chance to draw their own snowglobe. We set up a table with postcards and markers for all to draw and by the end of the two days the museum acquired 27 hand drawn snowglobes. See if you can tell which drawings were done by adults and which were done by kids while browsing through the set on Flickr. Below are two of our favorites from the weekend.

Thanks to all that visited and extra thanks to all that contributed a drawing to the museum.

No appointment needed

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 22:50:30 -0700

To all of you that want to visit the museum but haven't booked an appointment, the Museum of the Modern Snowglobe will throw open its doors on April 30 and May 1 from noon to 6 pm as part of Somerville Open Studios. The Vernon Street Studios building, which is MoMS home base, is slated to have over 100 artists alone. So come get lost in the art and stop by the museum to shake some snowglobes. You can find more info about open studios here and here. See you next weekend.

Draw your own museum, part 1

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 23:16:00 -0700

Get ready to share your stories. Next time you visit the museum, grab one of our new postcards and draw your own snowglobe on the front and write a story about it on the back. For those of you who want to share your creation with the world, we'll post your drawings and stories on the museum's website for all to see.

Drawing the museum, part 4

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 23:32:48 -0700

The next iteration of the wall labels is complete and ready for production. Below is a side-by-side comparison of the old and the new. The main feature of the new labels is the map at the bottom. There are two pins plotted on the map, one pin for the museum and the other at the place depicted in the snowglobe. Just above the map is a message indicating the distance from the place depicted to the museum as well as the travel time just in case the snowglobe inspires you to take an impromptu trip.

The new labels also have a QR code in the upper right which when scanned will get you to the same information on the museums website with the added ability to rank the snowglobe and/or leave a comment about it.

Drawing the museum, part 3

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 22:35:00 -0700

The wall labels are being revised over the next few weeks in an attempt to create a richer viewing experience for museum visitors. These sketches illustrate a few ideas for incorporating QR codes, maps, phone numbers, and other interpretive data.

Museums inside and out

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 21:55:19 -0700

Today was Picture a Museum Day. See the results on Flickr and Twitter.

Drawing the website, part 2

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 18:06:12 -0700

These sketches were made while working on the mobile version of the website. The design is a simple linear layout taking cues from the vast number of existing mobile websites for museums like the IMA, Walker Art Center, and Brooklyn Museum. The sketch on the right includes a set of thumbs up/thumbs down buttons for rating the snowglobes.

Drawing the website, part 1

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:15:34 -0700

Here are a few quick sketches that were put together when working on the problem of how to best illustrate the relative size of each snowglobe. The first idea was to show vertical and horizonal rulers next to each globe. The second idea was to pair each globe with an everyday object like a hand or baseball. Since snowglobes are really meant to be handled it didn't take too long to decide on the cupped hand holding the snowglobe. Using some basic math and a few lines of code, each snowglobe image is scaled on the fly to match the dimensions of the image of the cupped hand. The hand is then overlayed on the snowglobe image. There you have it. Click though the images of our favorites to see it in action.

Drawing the museum, part 2

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 16:39:16 -0700

Here are a few additional ideas for the layout of the museum that focus on creating a more intimate visitor experience by forcing the viewer in to close quarters with the snowglobes. One of the designs included a play on the MoMA logo.

Drawing the museum, part 1

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 20:54:53 -0700

The concepts ranged from grandiose to minimal. Some of the original designs for the museum included snowglobes attached to platforms mounted with hand cranks which visitors could turn to agitate the snow. A more modest idea was to construct many small walls with narrow shelving staggered throughout the museum. Other ideas included a sixteen foot long half wall bisecting the entire museum space or one giant tiered pedestal in the center of the space.