The Muskegon Museum of Art is currently seeking and accepting proposals for the design and development of a new website.
RFP Release – Thursday, February 16
Proposal Deadline – Friday, March 10
Please contact Kristina Broughton, Director of Marketing, at kbrought@muskegonartmuseum.org for any questions or RFP submissions.
Introduction
The Muskegon Museum of Art (MMA) is seeking and accepting proposals for the design and development of a new website.
Your agency has been recommended as a potential vendor for our website redesign project.
The following Request for Proposal (RFP) includes a detailed look into the purpose and need of a website redesign, background information of our organization, state of our current online presence, scope of what we are looking for in a refreshed website, and specifications of our needs as it relates to the project. We understand that details may be subject to change with vendor recommendations. We are open to suggested alternatives and solutions and ask that you include them in your proposal.
Project Overview
The existing MMA website (see muskegonartmuseum.org) was designed in 2008 and has since been maintaining the museum’s online presence. However, the website is due for a much-needed overhaul from both a design and functionality perspective.
The MMA is currently undergoing construction for a museum expansion project that will more than double the size of the existing museum. With a new era of the MMA underway, we feel it is the perfect time to refresh our online presence with a new website.
This project will be a concept-to-completion project that will coincide with the opening of our museum expansion and refreshed brand identity. The purpose of this RFP is to provide a fair evaluation for all candidates.
Project Timeline
RFP Release Date:
This RFP will be sent to recommended vendors on Thursday, February 16, 2023.
Response Deadline:
The deadline for proposal submissions is Friday, March 10, 2023. The deadline is strictly enforced. Proposals submitted after the deadline with not be considered.
Vendor Selection:
This RFP is an open and competitive process. A committee from the MMA will review all submissions after the proposal deadline and contact three finalists to participate in an in-person proposal presentation. The MMA will coordinate scheduling for in-peron presentations.
Presentations should include an introduction of the agency, proposal overview, examples of previous website development projects, processes for website development, proposed timelines, and any other related information. Detailed presentation instructions will be given to vendors when notified of finalist status. After the in-person proposal presentations, the committee will select a final vendor to recommend to the Muskegon Museum of Art Board of Directors for final approval. The selected vendor will be notified the day following the MMA Board of Directors meeting.
Project Kickoff:
Following the notification of the selected vendor, the MMA will work directly with the vendor to overview contracts and determine an appropriate timeline for the project.
Desired Launch Date Goal:
The MMA has a goal to launch our new website by early to mid 2024. Our timeline for this project aligns with the completion or near completion of the museum expansion. However, we would be content if the project were to be launched prior to the opening of the museum expansion.
Detailed Timeline:
RFP Release – Thursday, February 16
Proposal Deadline – Friday, March 10
Proposal Reviews – March 13-17
Contact Finalists for Presentations – Friday, March 17
Finalist Presentations – March 27 – April 11
Marketing Committee Selection – Wednesday, April 12
Recommendation to the Board of Directors – Monday, April 17
Selected Vendor Notified – Tuesday, April 18
About the MMA
Founded in 1912, the Muskegon Museum of Art has been a historical gem in the heart of Muskegon, Michigan. Renowned for its permanent collection of over 5,000 works of art by notable artists, both historical and contemporary, the MMA has been steadily growing towards national (and occasionally international) recognition.
In addition to the permanent collection, the MMA also hosts 15+ rotating exhibitions a year featuring up-and-coming solo artists, regional juried shows, nationally traveling exhibitions, and more.
The Muskegon Museum of Art serves as a community resource through educational programming and community involvement. It is our mission to make learning through art accessible to all, which is why the MMA offers a variety of tours, classes, workshops, free community days, events, and more each month.
As the MMA continues to grow in collection and as a community resource, the need to grow the physical museum has been long overdue since its last expansion in 1980. It is estimated that it would take nearly 40 years to properly rotate our permanent collection in the current museum galleries.
In 2020, the MMA began a capital campaign to raise funds for a major museum expansion that will more than double the size of the existing museum and includes multiple large gallery spaces, new classrooms, a new store, expanded storage space, and more. This expansion will be transformative to museum operations and offerings as well as the landscape and economic growth of Muskegon County. Construction for the expansion begins Spring 2023 and is expected to be completed by early 2025.
Current Challenges
Web Presence & Identity:
Our current website is severely outdated, which is frustrating from both a visitor and a management perspective. With a refreshed brand identity and museum expansion, our new website should reflect more of a contemporary identity and online presence.
Functionality:
Simply put, our current website does not function properly. Both on desktop and on mobile. From the homepage and on, there are clear functionality issues at play. The new website needs to function properly to give our online visitors a hassle-free website experience.
Navigation & Searchability:
Our current website is difficult to navigate on both desktop and mobile. With the new website, ease of navigation is a priority. We need content to be searchable and easily found from within the website. Our team has identified five categories in which the majority of our website content should fall under for better ease of user navigation in relation to our website goals. However, we are open to alternative solutions and recommendations.
Establish a Dependable Home Base:
The MMA’s digital presence has increased tremendously over the past few years with our growing social media, email marketing, and digital ad campaigns. However, our current website is the sore spot in our digital marketing. We want the new website to be the home base of our digital marketing efforts, with high quality landing pages that easily create an ongoing flow/experience for a visitor to navigate between an ad on social media to our website without having a clunky website disruption or a visitor turned off by a bad website.
An Online Public Database of the Permanent Collection:
It is industry standard to have a searchable collections database available to the public. Unfortunately, our current website cannot support such a feature. With the new website, we would like to build the correct infrastructure to support on online collections database where visitors can search for, explore, and learn about the artwork in our permanent collection.
Online Membership Purchase/Renewal:
Our current membership operations are very traditional. Purchasing or renewing a membership on our website is possible, however, it is extremely frustrating from both ends and we end up calling each new member to verify their membership intent and information. We would love to at least have
a well-established online system for members to purchase or renew their memberships online.
Small E-commerce Setup:
Our current online shopping offerings are similar to the setup of the online membership purchases. Our store does not have a lot to sell online, however, if properly set up, we would love to sell MMA Store merchandise online.
Project Goals
• Redesign the MMA website to reflect the contemporary future of the museum, while also respecting the historical collection and impact the museum has in the community.
• Bring the online presence of the museum to an industry standard or above that will remain relevant over time (We don’t want to go through a full redesign every few years).
• Create an enjoyable and easy-to-navigate website experience for potential visitors.
• Build a searchable online collections database available to the public.
• Create a smooth purchasing process for memberships and store e-commerce.
• MMA Staff need to have backend
Audience
Visitors: Our website’s primary audience is potential visitors who are looking to see what events and exhibitions are happening at the museum, as well as basic information such as hours, admission, parking, etc.
Web Manager (from MMA): Our website needs to be user-friendly from a web management perspective. With nearly 15 changing exhibitions and a consistent flow of events and programming, our team here at the MMA needs to have the ability to edit and change specific criteria on the website frequently. There are only a few dedicated people who will have access to edit the website and they will be familiar with best practices and guidelines to maintain the formatting and integrity of the website.
Academics: Aside from visitors, art historians and students use our website to learn about certain works in our collection. As of right now, we only have a select number of works and information available on our website. Researchers are encouraged to reach out to museum staff for more information. Our goal is to make our collection more accessible for researchers to find what they need.
Website Examples
Speed Art Museum
Love the photo tiles with text
Like that the homepage is short and does not take multiple scrolls to reach the bottom.
Events & Programs page, specifically how they have events sectioned off with the option to view an interactive calendar.
Exhibitions page and the breakdown of Current, Upcoming, Previous, and Online (however, we do not have online exhibitions).
Collections page is organized into categories.
Like the banner at the top stating the hours for the day.
Denver Art Museum
Homepage Banner “Welcome to the Denver Art Museum, Today is (date). We are open 10 am – 5pm”
Simple menu navigation.
Specific exhibition page layout – Rolling banner with featured works, location (which gallery), exhibition resources, related events, articles – It’s a one stop shop for everything about that exhibition.
Plan your visit – icons and visual map.
Chat feature.
Share your visit.
Tacoma Art Museum
Clean and unique design (although we don’t really like the moving background with scroll)
Menu – we like the vertical menu and the menu design on mobile, however we are not a fan of the left justify on mobile (desktop is okay) or the popout menu when clicked.
Events Calendar – Love the list format and highlighted calendar.
Portland Art Museum
We felt this website was a bit wordy in areas, but we did enjoy the layout of some areas.
About page is simple with a detailed menu on the right to navigate to different related areas.
Collections page – we like the tiles and categories with the menu on the right.
Past Exhibitions page layout – We liked the buttons for resources and sponsors
Collections Databases
The Met Collections Database
Flint Institute of Art
Competitor Websites
Grand Rapids Art Museum
Lakeshore Museum Center
Team Roles & Collaboration
Kristina Broughton, Director of Marketing, and Kirk Hallman, Executive Director, will be the MMA’s main points of contact throughout the project.
The MMA Marketing committee will have a major role in the selection of the vendor, as well as a presence in overviewing the progress of the website redesign project. MMA Staff will recommend the selected vendor to the MMA Board of Directors on Monday, April 17 for final approval.
During the project development, the MMA Staff will have the opportunity to voice their preferences within their given areas of the new website.
The preferred method of communication throughout the project through Kristina Broughton by email, kbrought@muskegonartmuseum.org or phone, (231)720-2574.
Proposal Instructions
This RFP is issued to provide the selection process for the design and development of a new website. Proposals submitting a response to the RFP will be asked, at a minimum, to state their qualifications, understanding/experience relating to the project, and offer their methodology for meeting the criteria.
In your proposal, please include the following:
– Name, address, email, phone, website
– Number of years in operation / History of organization
– Team size, bios, years of experience for each, their role, awards/ certifications
– Number of individuals (approx.) that will work on the website project, their roles & responsibilities
– 3-5 top relevant projects, who worked on each project, link to case study or website URL
– Top clients and when (date) they partnered
– 5 client references
– Any additional resources required for support (ex: sub-contractors)
– Project management approach
– General overview of website build process beginning-to-end
– Number of hours and general timeline from start to completion (approx.)
In a separate document labeled “Proposed Budget”:
– Estimated budget for project, include inclusive and detailed cost breakdown
– If your proposed quote excludes certain fees or charges, you must provide a detailed list of excluded costs with a complete explanation of the nature of those fees.
The deadline for proposal submission is Friday, March 10, 2023.
Proposals received after Friday, March 17, 2023 will not be considered.
Proposals can be submitted in PDF format to Kristina Broughton – Director of Marketing at kbrought@muskegonartmuseum.org or by mail (see address below) until Friday, March 10, 2023.
Attn: Kristina Broughton
Muskegon Museum of Art
296 W. Webster Ave.
Muskegon, MI 49440
If the execution of work to be performed by your company requires the hiring of subcontractors you must clearly state this in your proposal. Subcontractors must be identified and the work they will perform must be defined. In your proposal, please provide the name and address of the subcontractor. The Muskegon Museum of Art will not refuse a proposal based upon the use of subcontractors but does retain the right to refuse the subcontractors you have selected.
Contract Terms
The Muskegon Museum of Art will negotiate contract terms upon selection. A project will be awarded upon signing of an agreement or contract, which outlines the terms, scope, budget, and other necessary items.
For questions, please contact Kristina Broughton at kbrought@muskegonartmuseum.org.