Cleveland Museum of Art
Fragmented Digital Experience Was Undermining Brand Authority
Despite CMA's reputation for innovation, their website consisted of five separate subdomains with inconsistent visual styles that made every page feel like it belonged to a different museum. This fragmentation created a confusing user experience that prevented visitors from fully appreciating the museum's extensive collection and groundbreaking work in the museum technology space.
The brand inconsistency posed serious operational challenges beyond just aesthetics. Managing content across multiple platforms made it difficult to maintain the data accuracy that's crucial in the art world—especially for provenance information, where inconsistencies can create significant problems. Most critically, the fragmented digital presence failed to showcase CMA's expertise in the digital arena, undermining their position as a technology leader in the museum world.
Strategic Consolidation with Art-First Design
The technical architecture leveraged Drupal as the content management system with a decoupled Next.js front-end, providing the flexibility and scalability needed for a world-class museum while integrating seamlessly with CMA's existing systems.
Deeper Engagement and Enhanced Digital Authority
The transformation delivered measurable improvements across all key engagement metrics. User session length increased by 20%, demonstrating that visitors are spending more time exploring CMA's offerings. Page views per visit improved by 18%, indicating deeper content exploration and stronger connection with the collection.
The unified platform proved particularly effective at driving event engagement, with upcoming events seeing a 78% increase in views. This represents significant new opportunities for program attendance and community involvement that the fragmented experience couldn't capture.
Beyond the metrics, the new platform successfully positions CMA as a digital innovation leader while maintaining the accessibility standards that reflect their commitment to inclusivity. The seamless integration of content, commerce, and personalization creates a foundation for future digital initiatives that will keep CMA at the forefront of museum technology.