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20 MUSEUMS&HERITAGE Winter 2013
APPS
T
he V&A has been exploring the
mobile digital market for some
four years. By 2010, theMuseum had released two paid
for digital products: Quilts
(2.99), an app to accompany the 2010
exhibition and Tipus Tiger (now free), an
interactive version of one of the most
famous objects in the V&As Asian Collection.
The development of both apps was triggered
by the arrival of the iPhone in 2007.
Quilts is a good example of how a digital
product can attract a scattered global
audience who really love a particular subject.
Even today, three years later, there is steady
demand for the product, and its successful
launch spurred the development of two
Clim Lead Digital Product & Emerging Platforms
at the Victoria & Albert Museum, shares some of the lessons
learnt in
developing digital projects and apps for the museum
TAPPING INTO
APP CULTUREMALCOLM SUTHERLAND,
Pho
toVictoriaandAlbertMuseum,
London
App for Played in Britain: Modern Theatre in 100 Plays
PhotoVictoriaandAlbertMuseum,
London
Cult of Beauty exhibition iPhone audioguide
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MUSEUMS&HERITAGE Winter 2013 21
APPS
more elaborate apps, launched together in
early 2011:
A pilot gallery guide to the new Medieval
and Renaissance Galleries (1.79) with audio
tours narrated by V&A curators. It reminded
everyone of how much a little curatorialexpertise can add to the
enjoyment of the
Museums collections.
Smartphone and tablet versions of the
guide to the 2011 spring exhibition The Cult
of Beauty.
Audio is a good delivery mechanism; it
does not get in the way of people looking at
objects. We also found that, compared to
the rentable guide to the exhibition, the
digital products offered considerable add-
itional content. Even so, and by a long way,
the best seller was the rentable guide.
TABLETS ARRIVE
Against predictions, iPad was a more
popular format than iPhone, with Android
trailing behind. We discovered that the app
stores are hard places to maintain visibility,
particularly with interesting but niche
content, as an exhibition guide is likely to be.
2011 was the year of the tablet. Apples
iPad, announced in March 2010, was a hit.
The greater screen area of a tablet meant
it was now possible to think about much
richer user experiences for consumers. For
the leading museum of art and design,
the iPad was of real interest. The Cult of
Beauty tablet app was a last-minute
decision, only approved after seeing the
quality of images on the device then it
proved to be the most popular digital option!
ARCHIVE APP
In 2011, a project began to develop a tablet
product around a newly acquired photo-
graphic archive, that of London theatre
photographer Douglas Jeffrey.
The scale was ambitious, to create a
visual history of postwar British theatre
using 100 key plays. The photographs
would show the first production design for
each play and this was a rationale for the
V&A creating an app. The app would also
contain a unique essay for each play, first
night reviews from the Guardian andTelegraph, and audio
interviews with
theatre people.
Today, two iPads can be found in the
Theatre and Performance Gallery, where
the app can be freely explored. Played in
Britain: Modern Theatre in 100 Plays is also
available as a paid download, priced 7.99.
The project has helped the V&A learn agreat deal about
developing and managing
large amounts of digital content, as well as
rights management, and it is a project that
will continue to develop.
DAILY GUIDE
In early 2012, The V&A, a free day-by-day
iPad guide to the Museum, was launched.
This experiment, to combine the immediacy
of digital information with the high editorial
values of the V&As print publications,
proved popular and it continues to be
produced. In the first two months, the appwas No. 5 in the free
iPad charts and No. 1
in the free Lifestyle section. Over 10,000
copies were downloaded.
LESSONS LEARNT
Producing quality product takes time,
resources and investment; it is important
not to underestimate any of these.
Marketing also needs consideration, since
it is easy to lose visibility in the digital space.
From user feedback, we can see that people
use smartphones and tablets in different
ways, so it is important to create content
appropriate to each platform. A tablet
device is more something to sit down with,
than always carry with you, for example.
We now have a clearer idea about where
a pay wall is likely to sit. Digital products
developed by the Museums commercial
publishing division are likely to be charged
for. Other digital products, like gallery
guides, have more of an information value,
and will be free to download.
Guides to exhibitions may be included as
part of a ticket price, or available at addi-
tional cost. The exhibition David Bowie is
offered a location-aware guide with the
ticket, since sound was seen as an essential
part of the exhibition. Looking ahead to the
next four years, will things now slow down?
Perhaps that depends on where one is look-
ing. The smartphone and tablet markets are
much more mature, but products like Google
Glasses will bring new possibilities and chal-
lenges. Having a digital platform to showcase
unique digital content is increasingly useful.
We would love your thoughts and feed-
back. For more information and to view theselection of V&A
apps, please visit:
www.vam.ac.uk/page/v/apps/
App stores are hard
places to maintain
visibility
Medieval & Renaissance Galleries iPhone guide
PhotoVictoriaandAlbertMuse
um,
London
In the first two
months, the app was
No. 5 in the free iPad
charts and No. 1 in the
free Lifestyle section.
Over 10,000 copies
were downloaded
The V&As
Whats On
guide for iPads,
August 2013
