On the night of March 18, 1990, one of the most expensive and mysterious art thefts in American history took place within the walls of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, yet barely anyone actually knows about it. After visiting the enchanting museum and learning of the heist and the mystery surrounding it, I decided to create a website that took people through the events of that fateful night and the crazy theories of who took the precious artwork. The website starts at by explaining what the museum is and page by page explains to the viewer the key people, the movements of the thieves, the pieces taken, and the following investigation by the FBI. The FBI have stated many years after the heist that they believe they found the original thieves but no one has ever been persecuted for the crime. The frames of each painting still hang in the museum as a symbol of hope that they may once again return home, but as of today the 13 artworks taken that night remain hidden from the world.
Art Direction:
Bridget Currie
UX/UI
RESEARCH, SKETCHES, AND WIREFRAMES
The purpose of the website is to educate and intrigue users about the museum and invite them to visit the site of the heist. Aside from my own experience at the museum, I spent a lot of time uncovering the details of what the police say happened that night. Due to the lack of security cameras and unreliable guards, there’s a lot of uncertainty about what transpired, but I put everything I could find on a timeline and began sorting out the content.
I decided I wanted to do a linear timeline and guide the user through the story page by page. I looked at other narrative and storytelling websites for inspiration and began to sketch out my pages.
The website needed to be responsive to all sizes so I created a wireframe for each breakpoint. I wanted there to be some pages with interactive elements and decided to design the Artworks and Theories pages in a way that let users click through the pictures to uncover the information.
The target users for this app come from all different demographics. The users range from the elderly in Boston, to millenials on the other side of the country. This website is aimed to provide information and entertainment to anyone with an interest in art, mystery, and crimes.
INTERFACE AND PROTOTYPE
With the large amount of photos that I wished to use in the website, I knew I needed a way to treat them that made it exciting on each page. The duotones and floating images made a clear separation between each section of the story and added a lot of visual interest. The site is clean enough to be appropriate for an art museum but the colors and interaction make it more fun to explore for those who are looking for some entertainment.
The website is fully responsive and I designed a version of each page at breakpoints for Wide Desktop, Desktop, Tablet, and Mobile.
The prototype was created in Proto.io and is fully reactive to a users movements.
