As the world of culture’s eyes turn to Doha today for the VIP opening of Qatar’s Museum of Islamic Art, SYNTAX, a leading design, branding and user experience company and Spring, a pioneering web technology company announced the launch of the museum’s website at mia.org.qa.
The Museum of Islamic Art represents a major milestone not just for Qatar but the whole of the Gulf. It is the first of a new wave of world-class cultural institutions being developed in the region to open its doors. The museum, designed by renowned architect I. M. Pei (a living legend of architecture, who also designed the famous Louvre glass pyramid) houses a magnificent collection of artifacts from all around the world, representing the breadth and diversity of the arts of the Islamic civilization.
“Developing the web presence of the MIA was a very exciting and prestigious assignment for us. We have been working closely with the MIA and the Qatar Museum Authority to deliver a web site that will fulfill the challenge of introducing this amazing new museum to the world,” said Ahmad Humeid, CEO and Founder of SYNTAX.
The focal point of the design is an abstracted visual representation of the the museum’s facade, acting as the site’s navigation tool. “We wanted to reflect the modernist spirit of the museum’s architecture and also create a web user experience that is easy to navigate and pages that are a pleasure to read and use,” Humeid explained.
SYNTAX and Spring have collaborated on this project for the past year, with designers and web technologists working closely together to create a site that fuses a contemporary visual design approach with the latest in web techniques.
“The site’s dynamic Flash interface hides underneath it a number of technical breakthroughs. Our team has developed a site that takes Flash front-ended sites to a whole new level of content management control and scripted visual effects. This is not your typical Flash based web site, but one that will allow dynamic content management, flexibility and future growth” said Razan Khatib, CEO and Founder of Spring.
SYNTAX and Spring also collaborated on the design and development of the web site of the Qatar Museum Authority, which acts as a hub for all current and upcoming museum development projects in the State of Qatar.
“We love to part of the pioneering spirit on the arts and culture that has been blossoming in the Gulf region and the wider Arab region in recent years. The MIA will put Qatar on the world map of culture and we are honored to have been able to play a part in introducing this important institution to people all across the globe,” concluded Humeid.
SYNTAX this year celebrated its tenth year of existence in 2008. As a design and branding company born in the interactive age, it brings together an innovation oriented, strategic approach to design and fuses it with an understanding and enthusiasm for the possibilities offered by new media, across platforms and across cultures.
Read more about the MIA in the Economist.
Comments
2 responses to “SYNTAX and Spring design, develop the website of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha”
Congrats and best of luck.
Ahmad
I am a bit late in finding that you were involved with the Islamic Museum in Doha – not to dampen spirits, but did you see the review of the museum by the IHT art man? He says there is some great stuff in the collection but the curating is really poor.
I was there at the time of the official opening but they were not letting the public in yet so I did not get a chance to see it.