Brooklyn Museum
A digital platform that connects, contextualizes, and elevates every corner of the museum.
Collaborators
Tech Stack
- Next.js
- Sanity CMS
- Bun/Node.JS
- TMS Collections
- Elastic Search
- PostgreSQL
- Tessitura
- Shopify
- BunnyCDN
- Custom APIs
- Vercel
We partnered with the Brooklyn Museum to create a powerful new digital platform that preserves 200 years of history while unlocking modern pathways for connection, discovery, and accessibility.
By integrating systems, surfacing hidden archives, and prioritizing accessibility and performance, we built a dynamic site that honors the museum's past and empowers its future.
Project Overview:
- 1.
We migrated the Brooklyn Museum to Sanity CMS, consolidating content from disconnected systems and enabling staff to build pages that link artworks, events, exhibitions, and more.
- 2.
In partnership with our design team, XXIX, we created a digital experience that deepens relationships with the museum, onsite and online. The design is contemporary, legible, and strictly accessible, enabling seamless exploration and editorial storytelling.
- 3.
With a reprocessed image system, comprehensive search experience, and upgraded ticketing system, the new platform invites deep exploration through every facet of the museum.
A Content Ecosystem Reconnected
The Brooklyn Museum had decades of valuable digital content spread across legacy systems, including a content management system, collections database, digital asset manager, ticketing platform, ecomm shop, and multiple custom tools. We migrated the entire site to Sanity CMS, building scripts to sync artworks, media, events, and archival materials into one modern, maintainable structure.
Now, content is interconnected across types. Staff can reference artworks in articles, link exhibitions to products, or build collections filtered by department. All 100,000+ artworks and 200+ years of history are preserved and made more usable than ever. This foundational work transformed the site from a fragmented archive into a living encyclopedia of the museum.
Design That Stays Out of the Way
In collaboration with our sister studio XXIX and the museum’s accessibility partners, we designed a contemporary digital platform that bridges the museum’s physical and digital experiences. The goal was to create a system that feels expansive and intuitive. The new site invites visitors to explore exhibitions, discover events, and engage with the collection through an accessible and legible interface.
The design language adheres to strict system guidelines, embracing a minimal aesthetic that prioritizes clarity and usability. Typography and layout emphasize readability, using plain-text elements in place of icons, for example, to ensure navigability for all users. The result is a seamless experience where the visual design stays out of the way and the content shines.
Built for Exploration
Every page of the new Brooklyn Museum website opens a new door into the museum’s rich ecosystem. Visitors can browse high-resolution artwork in fullscreen lightboxes, navigate searchable archives, and explore curated collection areas organized by department. The grid system on search pages creates a sense of entropic curation, surfacing unexpected juxtapositions and empowering users to become curators themselves.
Under the hood, we implemented a comprehensive search index powered by ElasticSearch that spans the entire content ecosystem, from research posts and educational materials to shop products and scanned PDFs. All imagery was reprocessed for quality and performance, and integrated with accessibility best practices. It adds up to a digital experience that matches the richness and ambition of the museum it represents.
The new Brooklyn Museum platform is a digital foundation for storytelling, preservation, and civic engagement. As the museum continues to grow and evolve, the site is ready to scale with it, honoring its legacy while inviting the next generation to explore.