MUSEUM OF BAD ART
Art too bad to be ignored! MOBA was one of those ideas that at the beginning sounded crazy. But as time passed, it proved to be a totally successful initiative. So, if you look a little closer, you'll see that after all, is not bad art, but the ones who never really made it.
HISTORY
MOBA was founded in the fall of 1993 and presented its first show in March 1994. The response was overwhelming. Since then, MOBA’s collection and ambitions have grown exponentially. Initially, it was housed in the basement of a private home in Boston. This meager exhibition space limited the museum to be a regional cultural resource for the New England area.
As the only museum dedicated to bringing the worst of art to the widest of audiences, we felt morally compelled to explore new, more creative ways of bringing this priceless collection of quality bad art to a global audience. Another Boston-area cultural institution, Dedham Community Theatre, generously allowed MOBA the use of their basement. Our first permanent gallery is now conveniently located just outside the Men’s room in a 1927 movie theatre. The ambience created such a convivial atmosphere, that when we went looking for a second location, the only place that was up to our quality standards was another theatre basement. The Somerville Theater in Davis Square, Somerville, MA is now our second gallery.
To this end, we now exhibit online (you found it!), publish an email newsletter called MOBA News, and offer the popular book Museum of Bad Art : Masterworks.
MOBA: Our first permanent gallery is now conveniently located just outside the men’s room in a 1927 movie theatre.
Designer: What?!!! A basement museum?!
MISSION
The Museum Of Bad Art (MOBA) is a community-based, private institution dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition, and celebration of bad art in all its forms and in all its glory.
Designer: I mean, what else can I say. That mission statement says it all. Bad art in all its glory. In other words, glorified bad art! You know? Is like saying the day needs the night, the night needs the day. The moon has the sun and Massachusetts' basements have bad art.
NEWS
MOBA News is the leading journal in the field of bad art. It is published electronically and sporadically It is distributed free to Friends of MOBA in good standing.
There is no better publication for keeping up-to-date with all late breaking developments in the world of bad art. Read about recent MOBA acquisitions and events, inside reports of controversial bad art issues, and editorials by leading authorities.
What does it take to attain the coveted status, Friend of MOBA? A working email address and the ability to somehow tell us what it is. We will then assume that you are willing to commit your life to bad art and will enroll you. Would you like to join our preeminent institution?
Since our founding, we received at least three messages suggesting that we archive back issues of MOBA News. This archive is in response to the overwhelming demand.
Designer: You must be kidding me. Leading journal on the field of bad art? Well, OF COURSE! It's the only bad art museum in the world! Clever idea. I love it badly.
I admit that I have become a fan myself. When you look carefully at the pieces, the psychological aspect of humanity arises with splendor. These aren't just bad art. These are the strong attempts of people to create good art. Therefore, the news needs to be organized by importance first and then by dates. I am sure some of these pieces will make the cover of more than the MOBA book.
EVENTS
MOBA Museum’s public programs include many opportunities for families and visitors to tour galleries at no charge and to learn more about the collection. They also include lectures that are free to the public. Additionally, The Museum also annually sponsors Christ-mas in the Park, a beloved holiday tradition begun in 1979.
Designer: Ok you MOBA people, I have not seen Santa or Rudolph in any of your pieces. Well, that's not really Christmas but bad art isn't bad art neither.
These activities are good to be displayed as tabs that pop out when users hover in certain areas of the home page. The word free is important.
LOCATION
Contact Information for a all locations
OFFICE
Museum Of Bad Art
73 Parker Road
Needham, MA 02494
TELEPHONE
1-781-444-6757
EMAIL
General Questions: MOBA@MuseumOfBadArt.org
Art Submissions: Curator@MuseumOfBadArt.org
Designer: Of almost 600 pieces in the permanent collection, 20 to 40 are exhibited at each location. Each piece is accompanied by a written interpretation, helping the public grasp many of the complexities inherent in the work. There is usually no MOBA staff on premises, but our friends at New England Wildlife Center are available to try to answer your questions and sell official MOBA merchandise.
Somerville Theatre
ADDRESS
55 Davis Square
Somerville MA 02144
USA
HOURS
Sunday 10:00am - 2:00pm
Monday - Wednesday - Friday 10:00am - 4;00pm
Tuesday 10:00am - 7:00pm
Saturday 10:00am - 9:00pm
ADMISSION
Free with the purchase of a movie or concert ticket or request a free museum pass from Info@MuseumOfBadArt.org.
MOBA: In May 2008, MOBA was proud to celebrate the opening of our gallery in the Somerville Theatre. Like our Dedham gallery, it is located in a theatre basement, convenient to the rest rooms.
Brookline Interactive Group
ADDRESS
46 Tappan St., Top Floor
Brookline, MA 02445
USA
HOURS
Saturday and Sunday Closed
Monday - Thursday 8:00am - 8:00pm
Friday 10:00am - 4:00pm
ADMISSION
Free all day
MOBA: In 2010, we added a third location in the offices of Brookline Interactive Group.
New England Wildlife Center
ADDRESS
500 Columbian St.
South Weymouth, MA 02190
USA
HOURS
Sunday 10:00am - 2:00pm
Monday - Wednesday - Friday 10:00am - 4;00pm
Tuesday 10:00am - 7:00pm
Saturday 10:00am - 9:00pm
ADMISSION
Free all day
MOBA: A third MOBA location is now located at the New England Wildlife Center. Admission is free from 10 am. See below right for the various closing times.
SEARCH
Designer: Easy found! I input "bad art" and voilà!
CURRENT WEBSITE
Designer: These people need a smart organizer. Sometimes tons of fun and excitement can be extremely confusing for the users.
CURRENT LOGO
Designer: The current logo is bad art itself. It looks like the map of the island of Puerto Rico or Jamaica. It could also be a paint spot. Who knows? I don't. May be they found the logo design in a trash can too!
Designer: I firmly suggest a new logo although, at this point of the game since MOBA is recognized world-wide, it could be risky and expensive to re-brand.
CURRENT SOCIAL MEDIA
Designer MOBA has a cute functional Facebook page. High-resolution photography provides the users an adventure while reading the posts, and is a blast from the moment they open the page to the second they log out of it. Also, all important information is displayed clearly and right when the page is loaded.
NEWS AND EVENTS
Designer: Once you select news at the home page, it takes you to a page titled Events and News. Very confusing! You don't know what's an event and what's news. In three paragraphs MOBA talks about how to become a friend (news receiver?), how their news is the leading journal. At the bottom of that section titled "MOBA Media Sightings", there is a "of probable interest" heading, not a link, with a drop down menu kink of bullet underneath, not a link neither. I clicked on it many times! Oops, wrong command.
It is a crowded page with links that open on new tabs as well as on the same tab. Most of them open to a "not found page" or simply don't work. It also has a membership link that opens the "join MOBA page" and plenty of instructions for you to read if you want to cancel the email, receive emails and/or want to change email.
The right column has hundreds of links to archived issues of some "ignoble detail". What's ignoble detail?
BOOK
Designer: Notice how the "bad designed" emoji clearly identifies a not available item.
SHOP
Designer MOBA sells a few items only. Once you select the item it takes you to Massachusetts Bay Trading Co., an outside link where you make the selections and purchase the product. Product photos can be improved!
AUDIENCE
WHO GOES TO THE BASEMENT?
MOBA’s fans come in all colors and shapes. From kids to adults, its audience loves Art. It takes some knowledge of fine art to appreciate the bad art offered by this inventive museum. The majority fluctuate from 18-65 years old. Their jobs are from the baker to the professor.
Designer: Definitively this audience is a peculiar crowd. Art lovers? Does that mean people who don't know art and think that "bad art" is good art? Of course no. Its audience knows about art. The layout needs to look professional but at the same time easy enough to browse. It is important that children get a great experience interacting with the site.
GOALS
Organize the website's layout content
Give the website a modern look
Make the website more interactive and fun (code tricks)
Designer: Without losing its casual and fun way to express their passion for bad pieces of art, our goal is to organize the website's layout and give it a clean look. Probably a style close to their basement locations' look? Just kidding!
GOALS
I'm offering two versions of the same new logo. One is a bad art itself and the second is computer generated. As an artist, my heart goes to the canvas. It has its current typography and plenty of colors as the background. If the lines, dimensions and/or balance of the piece are analyzed, surely it wins a space at any of the three museum basement location!
Designer: Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the W3 Arena. Today we proudly present on the left side of the ring: the paint. Acrylic on canvas. (shouting crowd). On the right side the so used, the inevitable comp generated vector! (shouting crowd again). Which one goes to the recycle bin? Stay tuned -cuz the bad art fans will decide! (Bad filmed commercials)
TYPOGRAPHY
Headings
Google Font: Libre Baskerville
Weight 400 normal 400 italic 700 bold
Designer: Oh my, oh my! Comic Sans and Papyrus! This is the only website where these two make a perfect and great combination. Bad Art = Bad Design
Designer: One typeface for this museum is enough. The museum itself is already packed with information and art pieces. There's no need to add more congestion to the site. Using more than one typeface would definitively add to it.
Libre Baskerville was chosen for two reasons. First, it brings that classic–bygone museum feeling. Second, it contrasts the funny atmosphere of the museum giving it a touch of seriousness greatly needed since behind all this craziness there is a lot of seriousness and intellectual knowledge of art.
COLORS
Green
Hex #7ac142
rgb (122, 193, 66)
cmyk(49, 0, 87, 0)
Black
Hex #000
rgb (0, 0, 0)
cmyk (0, 0, 0, 100)
100%
Details
Hex #ffd549
rgb (255, 213, 73)
cmyk (7, 0, 100, 0)
Designer: A combination of "poo poo green" is the color used by the museum on its current website. I believe green is the perfect color. However, it needs a little tone change. A happy green combined with black will give the user the visual idea of a solid serious museum while the green can attract the user's eco-friendly and creative. Also, green is the color of money so why not? After all, the new artists are making money with their bad art pieces, and that's a sensation!
SITE MAP
For obvious reasons, the collection should be the priority. I divided the content into five major categories. The most important section is "collections". Of course! Donations has a page on its own because they are the motor of the museum. News can also be placed on the about pages having it handy in the footer. This will encourage more users to read them. The footer contains the extras ready to be clicked to learn more about the uniqueness of all three galleries.
WIREFRAMES
Sliders for all collections are suggested. Having the video on the home page gives the user a trusting experience with the museum. Once you watch it, you know this isn't crazy people exhibiting trash. A brief explanation of who we are or what is MOBA is a must at the home page.
Sliders for all collections are suggested. Having the video on the home page gives the user a trusting experience with the museum.
INSPIRATION
I like the simple sketchy lines and the black and white color scheme.
COLLECTION
The pieces in the MOBA collection range from the work of talented artists that have gone awry to works of exuberant, although crude, execution by artists barely in control of the brush. What they all have in common is a special quality that sets them apart in one way or another from the merely incompetent. The current website has millions of good pieces. A true challenge to have them all on board ready to be navigated!
- Animalistic "Charlie and Sheba"
- Blue People "My Left Foot"
- In The Wood "Disappointment"
- Eye Eye Eye "Lips and Beauty Marks"
- In The Wood "Lady With Big Pants"
- Here the Symbols Crash "Aurora Borealis"
- In The Wood "The Contortionist"
- Animalistic "Dog Bites Man"
- Here The Symbols Crash "Dissent From Pedestrial"
- Still Lives "No Visible Means Of Support"
- Sports Department "Safe At Home"
- Portrait "Woman At Her Laisure"
- Portrait "Elian's Gonzalez Grandmothers"
- Here The Symbols Crash "Sunrise? Sunset?"
- Here The Symbols Crash "Amazon At Play"
- In The Wood "Loneliness In Blue Lagoon"
- In the Wood "Chiquita"
- Portrait "Bailando"
- Portrait "Lucy In The Field Of Flowers"
- Portrait "Young Lucy"
- Portrait "Monalisa"
- Portrait "Descending A Staircase"
- Portrait "Inaguration-Day 1961"
- Portrait "Jazz Hands"
- Animalistic "Blue Tango"
- Portrait "The Birth Of A Man"
- Here The Symbols Crash "Earth Mother"
COMPS
Breaking the grid is the number one rule when designing this visual mock-up. It is crucial to have jokes here and there, everywhere. Note: Some variations to the wireframes were applied.