ChatGPT answers, unedited

• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Studio Blue - 20 W Hubbard St #3W, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• Art On the Loose Inc - 1740 W 99th St, Chicago, IL 60643, United States
• The Maude Group - 311 W Monroe St Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Firebelly Design - 1402 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60622, United States
• Studio/lab - 860 N Lake Shore Dr #24L, Chicago, IL 60611, United States

Yes. For a Chicago museum website, I’d put a few agencies on the shortlist based on demonstrated cultural-institution UX work rather than generic web-design experience.

• Clique Studios — They worked on the Chicago History Museum redesign, including visitor research, information architecture, accessibility, and streamlining the ticketing journey. The case study reports increases in returning visitors and mobile visitors after launch. Kwame Lovell
• Orbit Media Studios — A particularly relevant Chicago option if you want a strong combination of UX, content architecture, CMS, SEO, and development. Their Goodman Theatre work involved navigation, content cleanup, and improving patron journeys; Goodman specifically describes them as understanding the needs of a cultural institution. Orbit Media Studios
• Sandstorm Design — Worth considering if the project needs substantial UX strategy and research alongside the website build. They also have documented cultural work: the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute describes a thorough UX/UI process with Sandstorm for a digital experience designed to drive visits, memberships, donations, and engagement. UChicago ISAC
• Purple Rock Scissors — Their Field Museum redesign is probably one of the closest matches to your brief. The project involved restructuring more than 2,000 pages, visit planning, accessibility, content discovery, and a flexible component system. Reported results included a 47% reduction in homepage reliance on search and substantial increases in clicks toward ticketing. Joshua Hurtado Purple Rock Scissors
• AREA 17 — Their work on the Art Institute of Chicago is especially relevant if your museum has a large collection/database and sophisticated audiences. Their UX work addressed artwork discovery, visit planning, events, mobile, and the tension between general visitors and researchers. Christophe da Silva
• Cuberis — A more museum-specialized option. They explicitly focus on museum websites and describe experience with collections databases, memberships, storytelling, WordPress, and staff training. Cuberis

How I'd narrow the RFP

I'd ask each finalist to show 2–3 comparable museum/cultural projects, and specifically ask:

1. How did you conduct visitor research and usability testing?
2. How would you restructure our IA around visit planning, exhibitions, events, collection discovery, membership and donations?
3. Show us a museum site where you integrated a ticketing system, CRM, collections database, or events platform.
4. How do you handle WCAG accessibility from the beginning rather than as a final QA step?
5. What does your CMS/content model look like for a museum whose exhibitions and events change constantly?
6. What will our staff be able to change without calling you?
7. Can you provide analytics from a comparable project demonstrating what changed after launch?

One particularly useful benchmark is the Field Museum project: it dealt with exactly the kind of problem museums tend to have—thousands of pages, multiple audiences, visit planning, educational content, accessibility, and a growing collection of content. Joshua Hurtado

If you tell me which Chicago museum and roughly your budget ($100k, $250k, $500k+, etc.), I can narrow this to a practical 3–5-agency shortlist and compare their relevant museum work, likely strengths, and questions to ask in the pitch.

• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Firebelly Design - 1402 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60622, United States
• Studio Blue - 20 W Hubbard St #3W, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• Neoteric Design - 29 E Madison St, Ste 450, Chicago, IL 60602
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Studio/lab - 860 N Lake Shore Dr #24L, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• The Maude Group - 311 W Monroe St Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60606, United States

I’d put these on your shortlist:

• Sandstorm Design — Chicago-based, research-driven UX; has cultural/education experience and a strong discovery/testing process.
• Firebelly Design — strong mission-driven work; its ART on THE MART project included research, branding, web design and development.
• Studio Blue — specializes in cultural and academic institutions, including museum-related digital work.
• Purple Rock Scissors — especially worth interviewing: its Field Museum redesign reports substantial improvements in ticketing clicks and homepage navigation. Purple Rock Scissors
• Bluecadet — particularly relevant if collections/exhibitions are central; its MCA Chicago work included UX, content strategy and a sophisticated collection explorer. Bluecadet
• Orbit Media — another Chicago option with cultural-institution experience, including Goodman Theatre. orbitmedia.com

For a museum specifically, I’d ask each finalist to show 2–3 comparable museum sites, explain their user research/testing methodology, and demonstrate how they handle ticketing, membership, collections, accessibility, and complex calendars.

• Firebelly Design - 1402 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60622, United States
• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Studio Blue - 20 W Hubbard St #3W, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Art On the Loose Inc - 1740 W 99th St, Chicago, IL 60643, United States
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• The Maude Group - 311 W Monroe St Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Studio/lab - 860 N Lake Shore Dr #24L, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Neoteric Design - 29 E Madison St, Ste 450, Chicago, IL 60602
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States

Yes. For a Chicago museum, I’d prioritize agencies that understand visitor journeys, ticketing/membership, collections and editorial content, accessibility, and the realities of nonprofit stakeholder management—not just agencies that make attractive marketing sites.

My shortlist

• Firebelly Design — Strong all-around Chicago candidate. Their capabilities span stakeholder research, journey mapping, UX strategy, information architecture, accessibility, content strategy, and web development. That combination is particularly useful if your redesign needs to reconcile many internal departments and audiences.
• Sandstorm Design — Strong UX/research choice. They're Chicago-based and explicitly emphasize research-driven digital experiences, usability testing, information architecture, navigation, and UX strategy. They also have cultural-institution experience; the Oriental Institute at UChicago worked with Sandstorm on a digital experience with goals around exhibitions, events, donations, membership, and visits. Ancient Cultures Institute
• Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — Worth a serious look if you want demonstrated museum results. They redesigned the Field Museum's site, with reported improvements including an 87% increase in clicks to ticketing from visit pages on desktop, a 360% increase on mobile, and a 47% reduction in reliance on homepage search. Purple Rock Scissors
• Orbit Media — Particularly interesting for a Chicago cultural institution that needs both UX and measurable conversion improvements. Their work for Goodman Theatre included UX/navigation changes, content restructuring, accessibility, ticketing-related functionality, and membership-oriented goals; they report substantial increases in conversions and organic traffic. Orbit Media Studios Orbit Media Studios
• Urban Insight — Good museum-specialist option, especially for a complex content/collections site. Their museum practice explicitly focuses on information architecture, content audits, analytics, heat mapping, accessibility, membership, donations, and online collections. Urban Insight
• Cuberis — Consider if the CMS/collections side is especially important. They specialize in museum websites and describe work involving collections databases, storytelling, memberships, donations, and staff training. Cuberis

One particularly useful benchmark

The Adler Planetarium project is almost exactly the kind of museum website problem I'd use as a benchmark when evaluating agencies. Its redesign involved UX/content audits, stakeholder interviews, workshops, journey mapping, information architecture, wireframes, user testing, CMS training, ticketing integration, and CRM integration. Eva Philips

I'd therefore ask every finalist to show you a case study where they had to solve all of those problems together, rather than simply showing beautiful homepage designs.

If I were running your RFP

I'd probably invite Firebelly, Sandstorm, PRPL, and Orbit to the first round, then add Urban Insight or Cuberis if your collections/CMS architecture is a major component.

And I'd make the RFP explicitly ask for:

• Visitor research before visual design
• Mobile-first visit planning: hours, directions, exhibitions, tickets
• Ticketing and membership conversion
• Accessibility/WCAG expertise
• Information architecture for large content/collection inventories
• Search and discovery
• CMS/editorial workflows for museum staff
• Integration with ticketing, CRM, events, and collections systems
• A plan for measuring success after launch—not just delivering the site

The biggest thing I'd avoid is hiring a conventional branding/web agency that happens to have one museum in its portfolio. The museum-specific UX evidence is much more valuable than the logo gallery.

If you tell me which Chicago museum you're renovating and roughly your budget (e.g. <$100k, $100–250k, $250k+), I can narrow this to 3 agencies and compare their relevant museum projects, likely strengths, and potential concerns.

• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• Firebelly Design - 1402 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60622, United States
• Studio Blue - 20 W Hubbard St #3W, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Art On the Loose Inc - 1740 W 99th St, Chicago, IL 60643, United States
• The Maude Group - 311 W Monroe St Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Studio/lab - 860 N Lake Shore Dr #24L, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Neoteric Design - 29 E Madison St, Ste 450, Chicago, IL 60602
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States

Yes. For a Chicago museum, I’d prioritize agencies that can demonstrate actual museum/cultural UX—not just attractive nonprofit websites. Based on current portfolios, these would be my first calls:

• Orbit Media Studios — A strong Chicago option if you want a sophisticated website redesign with measurable UX, accessibility, SEO, and content strategy. They’re more generalist than museum-specialist, so I’d ask for cultural-institution references specifically.
• IDE Interactive, Inc. — Particularly interesting if your website needs to connect with interactive exhibits, kiosks, digital interpretation, or other museum technology in addition to the main site. Their Chicago practice spans strategy, UX, design and development.
• Firebelly Design — A good candidate if the project combines UX research, information architecture, content strategy, accessibility and brand expression. Their research offering includes stakeholder interviews, audits, journey mapping and usability testing.
• Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — Probably one of the most compelling firms to investigate because they have a direct Chicago museum website case study: the Field Museum. Their redesign reportedly produced an 87% increase in clicks from desktop visit pages to ticketing, a 360% increase on mobile, and substantially reduced reliance on search. Purple Rock Scissors
• AREA 17 — Worth considering if you're aiming for a particularly ambitious digital experience. Their work on the Art Institute of Chicago involved UX strategy, research, information architecture, interaction design and balancing casual visitors with researchers and other advanced users. Christophe da Silva
• Cuberis — A particularly good specialist to put on the RFP list if you want a museum-focused digital agency rather than a general web agency. They explicitly specialize in museum websites and have worked with institutions including the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Saint Louis Art Museum, including collection-database and third-party-system integrations. Cuberis

My shortlist

If this were my RFP, I'd probably invite PRPL, Cuberis, AREA 17, and Firebelly to the first round.

I'd differentiate them roughly like this:

One especially important point: don't make the RFP primarily about visual redesign. Museum websites have unusually complicated UX: trip planning, exhibitions, events, collections, education, membership, donations, ticketing, accessibility, multiple audiences, and frequently messy third-party systems. The Field Museum case, for example, involved reorganizing more than 2,000 pages around visitor needs. Joshua Hurtado

I'd ask every finalist to show you one museum project where they can demonstrate the before/after user journey, research methodology, information architecture, accessibility work, and measurable outcomes—not just screenshots.

If you tell me which Chicago museum and roughly your budget ($100k, $250k, $500k+, etc.), I can narrow this to 3–5 agencies and compare their relevant museum work, likely strengths, and potential weaknesses.

• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• Studio Blue - 20 W Hubbard St #3W, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• The Maude Group - 311 W Monroe St Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Firebelly Design - 1402 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60622, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Studio/lab - 860 N Lake Shore Dr #24L, Chicago, IL 60611, United States

For a Chicago museum, I’d put these at the top of the shortlist:

• Sandstorm Design — Strong Chicago UX/digital agency; notably, they did UX and creative UI work for the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute. Ancient Cultures Institute
• Purple Rock Scissors — Particularly compelling: they redesigned the Field Museum site, including major IA work, accessibility, and visit-planning UX, with measurable improvements in ticketing clicks and navigation. Purple Rock Scissors
• Bluecadet — Excellent if collections, storytelling, and exploration are central. Their MCA Chicago redesign included UX, content strategy, collection search/filtering, and responsive navigation. Bluecadet
• Cuberis — Museum-specialist option with substantial experience integrating collections, ticketing, membership, and museum CMS systems. cuberis.com
• Landslide Creative — Worth considering for a strategy-first redesign emphasizing audience journeys, IA, accessibility, and museum-specific workflows. landslidecreative.com

My first three RFP invites would be Purple Rock Scissors, Bluecadet, and Cuberis.

For a Chicago museum website renovation, I’d prioritize agencies that understand museum audiences, collections/content complexity, accessibility, ticketing/membership journeys, and stakeholder-heavy organizations—not just general web design. These are firms I’d put on a shortlist:

Strong Chicago / museum-specific candidates

Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL)

A particularly relevant option because they redesigned the website experience for Field Museum. Their work included information architecture, navigation improvements, audience research, and user testing focused on helping visitors plan visits and discover content. Purple Rock Scissors Purple Rock Scissors
Best fit if you need: a museum-native UX partner that understands exhibitions, education, membership, and visit planning.

Bluecadet

Bluecadet has worked with Museum Of Contemporary Art Chicago on website redesign, including UX, visual design, content strategy, and development. Bluecadet
Best fit if you need: a highly designed, brand-forward digital experience that still supports complex museum content.

Orbit Media Studios

Orbit is Chicago-based and has experience with cultural organizations, including Goodman Theatre, where they worked on UX improvements, content structure, and audience conversion paths. Orbit Media Studios
Best fit if you need: a practical partner focused on usability, content governance, SEO, and maintainability.

Museum specialists outside Chicago worth considering

Cuberis

Cuberis specializes in museum websites and has worked with institutions including Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. Their focus includes museum storytelling, collections, memberships, and CMS implementation. Cuberis
Best fit if you need: deep museum workflow knowledge and a CMS partner.

Urban Insight

Urban Insight focuses heavily on arts and culture websites, including UX strategy, accessibility, ticketing, donations, collections, and digital engagement. Urban Insight
Best fit if you need: a larger strategic partner for a complex institution.

Landslide Creative

Landslide works specifically with museums and cultural institutions, emphasizing audience prioritization, accessibility, and visitor journeys. Landslide Creative
Best fit if you need: a museum-focused redesign partner with a strong emphasis on usability.

A few independent UX specialists to look at

• Eva Philips — led UX work for the Adler Planetarium website, including research, journey mapping, IA, wireframes, testing, and CMS training. Eva Philips
• Claire Micklin — worked on UX improvements for the Smart Museum of Art website, including stakeholder research and audience goals. Claire Micklin

How I’d narrow the shortlist

For a typical Chicago museum redesign, I’d probably issue an RFP to:

1. PRPL — strongest local museum case study fit. Purple Rock Scissors
2. Bluecadet — strongest blend of museum UX + creative digital storytelling. Bluecadet
3. Cuberis — strongest museum-specialist option. Cuberis
4. Urban Insight — strongest for larger digital ecosystems (collections, ticketing, donations, accessibility). Urban Insight

When evaluating proposals, I’d ask each agency to show:

• museum website redesigns launched in the last 3–5 years
• examples of improving “Plan Your Visit” flows
• accessibility approach (WCAG)
• ticketing/membership/donation integrations
• CMS recommendations and training plans
• how they conduct visitor research and usability testing

If you share the museum’s size (small regional vs. major institution), CMS (Drupal/WordPress/Sitecore/etc.), and whether you need ticketing integration, I can help narrow this to 3–5 best-fit firms.

Cuberis

Cuberis specializes in museum websites and has worked with institutions including Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. Their focus includes museum storytelling, collections, memberships, and CMS implementation. Cuberis
Best fit if you need: deep museum workflow knowledge and a CMS partner.

Urban Insight

Urban Insight focuses heavily on arts and culture websites, including UX strategy, accessibility, ticketing, donations, collections, and digital engagement. urbaninsight.com
Best fit if you need: a larger strategic partner for a complex institution.

Landslide Creative

Landslide works specifically with museums and cultural institutions, emphasizing audience prioritization, accessibility, and visitor journeys.
Best fit if you need: a museum-focused redesign partner with a strong emphasis on usability.

A few independent UX specialists to look at

• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• Studio Blue - 20 W Hubbard St #3W, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Firebelly Design - 1402 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60622, United States
• Art On the Loose Inc - 1740 W 99th St, Chicago, IL 60643, United States
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Dialogue Theory - 1932 S Halsted St #509, Chicago, IL 60608, United States
• The Maude Group - 311 W Monroe St Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60606, United States

If the goal is a museum website redesign with serious UX—not just a prettier WordPress site—I’d put these agencies on the shortlist:

• Sandstorm Design — Probably my first Chicago call for a research-heavy UX engagement. They have a long Chicago track record and emphasize user research, usability testing, information architecture, and digital strategy. They also worked with the Oriental Institute on a UX/UI-driven digital experience. Ancient Cultures Institute
• PRPL / Purple Rock Scissors — A particularly strong choice if your priorities are visit planning, navigation, ticket conversion, and measurable UX improvements. They redesigned the Field Museum site, including information architecture, personas, card sorting and user testing; the published results include substantial increases in clicks to ticketing. Purple Rock Scissors Purple Rock Scissors
• Bluecadet — Excellent if the site needs to balance UX with sophisticated storytelling and collection exploration. Their Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago redesign included UX/visual design, content strategy, collection search/filtering, responsive navigation, and flexible editorial patterns. Bluecadet
• Luci Creative — Worth considering if the website needs to connect closely with the physical museum experience, exhibitions, interactives, or visitor journey. They're Chicago-area specialists in experience design for museums and cultural institutions.
• Cuberis — A strong museum-specialist option, particularly if you want museum CMS expertise, collections integration, accessibility, and long-term staff maintainability. Their portfolio is unusually concentrated in museums, including the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Saint Louis Art Museum. Cuberis
• Landslide Creative — Another very museum-specific shop. Their process explicitly covers audience prioritization, user journeys, information architecture, accessibility, and conversion paths for visitors, members, donors and educators. Landslide Creative

One I’d add depending on your museum

If you're an art museum, Bluecadet and PRPL would be especially interesting. If you're a history/science/cultural museum with complex educational content, I'd lean toward Cuberis or Landslide. If the website is part of a broader physical/digital visitor-experience overhaul, I'd talk to Luci Creative.

I'd also look closely at Studio Blue for a Chicago-based cultural-institution design partner, particularly if brand, identity, editorial design, and the website need to be considered together.

My initial RFP shortlist would be Sandstorm, PRPL, Bluecadet, and Cuberis. That's a nice spread of UX/research, measurable visitor journeys, sophisticated cultural storytelling, and museum-specific technical expertise.

One important caveat: I wouldn't choose solely on the basis of "museum websites" in a portfolio. For your RFP, I'd require each agency to demonstrate actual user research with museum visitors, IA/card sorting, accessibility/WCAG work, ticketing/CRM integration, and post-launch analytics—and ask to speak with a comparable museum client.

If you tell me what kind of Chicago museum you run (art, history, science, etc.), approximate budget, and whether you're looking for strategy/design only or full design + development, I can narrow this to 3 agencies and compare their relevant case studies, strengths, and likely fit.

For a Chicago museum website renovation, I’d prioritize agencies that understand museum audiences, accessibility, collections/content complexity, ticketing and events, membership journeys, education programs, and storytelling—not just agencies that make attractive marketing sites.

Here are several firms I’d put on a shortlist:

Strong museum/cultural UX fits

Dig In UX

A particularly relevant option if your biggest need is visitor research and UX strategy. Dig In UX focuses specifically on museums, cultural institutions, and public-facing experiences, with an emphasis on audience research and user-centered design. LinkedIn
Best fit: a museum that needs to rethink navigation, audiences, digital interpretation, accessibility, and visitor journeys before redesigning the interface.

Studio Blue

Studio Blue has a long focus on nonprofit, academic, and cultural organizations, including museums. Their work spans strategy, identity, websites, and communications. Studio Blue
Best fit: a museum wanting a strong blend of brand storytelling, editorial design, and institutional voice.

Sandstorm Design

Sandstorm is a Chicago digital agency with experience combining UX, content strategy, and digital communications. NetBramha Studios
Best fit: institutions where the website has become a content-management challenge (exhibitions, events, programs, education, news, collections).

Fuzzy Math

Fuzzy Math is a research-oriented UX agency with experience on complex digital products and systems. UX Planet Clutch
Best fit: larger museums with complicated stakeholder groups, legacy systems, integrations, or extensive user research needs.

ArtVersion

ArtVersion combines UX/UI, branding, and web design. Clutch
Best fit: a museum seeking a visually ambitious redesign with a strong identity and polished public-facing experience.

Also worth considering

• Mightybytes — worth exploring if sustainability, nonprofit strategy, accessibility, and content-heavy sites are priorities. Clutch
• Bright Bright Great — a smaller Chicago UX/design studio that may appeal if you want a close creative partnership. Bright Bright Great

How I’d evaluate them for a museum project

Ask each agency for:

1. Museum/cultural case studies

• What museums have they worked with?
• Did they redesign visitor journeys, not just the visuals?
• Research approach

• Do they conduct visitor interviews, usability testing, analytics reviews, and accessibility testing?
• Content strategy

• How will they handle exhibitions, collections, events, education, membership, donations, and seasonal programming?
• Accessibility expertise

• Can they demonstrate WCAG-focused design and testing?
• CMS experience

• Museums often need staff-friendly publishing workflows, not just a beautiful front end.

If I were building a first-round RFP list for a Chicago museum, I’d probably invite Dig In UX, Studio Blue, Sandstorm Design, and Fuzzy Math—then add a more brand-led studio like ArtVersion if the redesign is also a major identity refresh. Studio Blue LinkedIn

I can also help you build a museum-specific RFP or score these agencies against your museum’s size, budget, and goals.

Sandstorm is a Chicago digital agency with experience combining UX, content strategy, and digital communications. netbramha.com
Best fit: institutions where the website has become a content-management challenge (exhibitions, events, programs, education, news, collections).

Fuzzy Math

Fuzzy Math is a research-oriented UX agency with experience on complex digital products and systems. agency.uxplanet.org clutch.co
Best fit: larger museums with complicated stakeholder groups, legacy systems, integrations, or extensive user research needs.

ArtVersion

ArtVersion combines UX/UI, branding, and web design.
Best fit: a museum seeking a visually ambitious redesign with a strong identity and polished public-facing experience.

Also worth considering

• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Studio Blue - 20 W Hubbard St #3W, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• Neoteric Design - 29 E Madison St, Ste 450, Chicago, IL 60602
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• The Maude Group - 311 W Monroe St Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Studio/lab - 860 N Lake Shore Dr #24L, Chicago, IL 60611, United States

Yes. For a Chicago museum, I’d prioritize agencies that understand visitor journeys, collections/content, ticketing, accessibility, education, membership, and the internal realities of museum teams—not just agencies that make attractive nonprofit websites.

My shortlist

• Sandstorm Design — Probably one of the strongest Chicago-local candidates. They have a long history in UX/research and have worked with cultural/educational institutions. They also did a digital experience for the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute, involving UX and interactive storytelling. Ancient Cultures Institute Ancient Cultures Institute

Best for: research-heavy UX strategy + website redesign + implementation.

• Studio Blue — Particularly interesting if your museum needs a blend of cultural-sector understanding, visual design, information architecture, and digital experience. Their Chicago portfolio includes work connected to the Art Institute of Chicago.

Best for: a sophisticated museum/arts aesthetic where brand and UX need to work together.

• elbē interactive — A Chicago studio specifically focused on interactive experiences for museums and cultural attractions, including work associated with the Field Museum and Adler Planetarium.

Best for: interactive storytelling and experiences that connect the website to the physical museum.

• IDE Interactive, Inc. — More of a UX + technology partner, useful if your redesign involves complicated integrations, custom functionality, or a substantial web application rather than simply a marketing site.

Best for: UX where engineering and integrations are major parts of the project.

• Neoteric Design — A long-established Chicago digital studio with strengths in UX, content-heavy websites, and custom development.

Best for: a maintainable, content-rich museum platform rather than a purely campaign-oriented redesign.

One specialist I'd definitely interview

Dig In UX is unusually relevant if you want the project to begin with serious visitor research rather than jumping straight into visual design. Their practice is specifically focused on UX research and experience design for museums and cultural institutions, including usability testing and museum evaluation. LinkedIn

You could potentially pair a specialist like this with a larger development/design agency.

Look beyond Chicago, too

There are a couple of national firms I'd put on the RFP list:

• Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — Their Field Museum redesign is an especially relevant benchmark. They report an 87% increase in clicks to ticketing from visit pages on desktop, 360% on mobile, and a 47% reduction in reliance on homepage search. The project also addressed accessibility and a scalable component system. Purple Rock Scissors
• Cuberis — Very museum-specific. They position themselves around museum websites and have worked with institutions including the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Saint Louis Art Museum, with services spanning UX, accessibility, collections, integrations, and WordPress. Cuberis
• AREA 17 — Worth considering for a particularly ambitious digital/collection experience. Their Art Institute of Chicago work involved research, discovery, UX strategy, interaction design, complex collection content, and visitor planning. Christophe da Silva

If I were narrowing this to 4 RFPs

I'd probably invite:

1. Sandstorm — Chicago + UX/research + institutional experience
2. PRPL — proven Chicago museum website results
3. Cuberis — deepest museum-specific web specialization
4. Studio Blue or elbē — depending on whether you need more brand/content design or interactive experience design

One important caveat: don't choose based on the prettiest portfolio. For the RFP, I'd require each agency to show a museum project where they can demonstrate before/after visitor research, information architecture, accessibility, mobile visit planning, ticketing/membership integration, CMS governance, and measurable outcomes. That's where the difference between a good cultural-institution agency and a generic web agency becomes very apparent.

If you tell me which Chicago museum it is, your approximate budget, CMS (if known), and whether you're looking for strategy/design only or full redesign + development, I can narrow this to 3–5 agencies and compare them side-by-side.

• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Bark Design - 4330 N California Ave Store Front, Chicago, IL 60618, United States
• Studio Blue - 20 W Hubbard St #3W, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• Neoteric Design - 29 E Madison St, Ste 450, Chicago, IL 60602
• The Maude Group - 311 W Monroe St Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Studio/lab - 860 N Lake Shore Dr #24L, Chicago, IL 60611, United States

Yes. For a Chicago museum website redesign, I’d prioritize agencies that understand the unusual UX problems museums have: visit planning, exhibitions/events, collections, education, memberships, donations, accessibility, and large amounts of editorial content.

My shortlist

• Sandstorm Design — A strong Chicago option if you want a research-driven UX strategy plus website design/development. They have a long history in digital experience work for mission-driven organizations, and notably worked with the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute on a UX/UI-heavy digital experience. Ancient Cultures Institute Ancient Cultures Institute

Best for: a strategy-heavy redesign where audience research and information architecture matter as much as visual design.

• Bark Design — A Chicago studio focused on mission-driven organizations, with capabilities spanning UX/UI, information architecture, website design and development.

Best for: a smaller, collaborative agency relationship rather than a huge digital shop.

• Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — They have perhaps the most directly relevant Chicago museum case study: the Field Museum website redesign. The project included reorganizing 2,000+ pages, accessibility, information architecture, and visit planning; the reported results included an 87% increase in clicks to ticketing from desktop visit pages and 360% on mobile. Purple Rock Scissors Joshua Hurtado

Best for: a large, content-heavy museum with complicated navigation and strong measurable conversion goals.

• Bluecadet — Their Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago work is especially interesting if your museum wants the website to function as more than a visitor-information portal. Their redesign incorporated collection exploration, taxonomy, search/filtering, artist discovery and editorial content. Bluecadet

Best for: museums where collections, storytelling and digital interpretation are central to the website.

• Cuberis — A specialist in museum websites and digital platforms, with experience integrating collection databases, ticketing/CRM systems and WordPress. They explicitly position themselves around museums and cultural institutions. Cuberis

Best for: a museum that needs serious CMS/integration expertise alongside UX.

• Landslide Creative — Another museum-focused specialist. Their process explicitly addresses competing audiences—visitors, donors, educators, members, volunteers and researchers—and emphasizes information architecture, user journeys, accessibility and conversion goals. Landslide Creative

Best for: a museum that wants a practical, maintainable site rather than simply a visually impressive redesign.

One wildcard I'd investigate

Eva Philips is an independent UX practitioner rather than a conventional agency. Her work on the Adler Planetarium is extremely relevant: stakeholder interviews, UX workshops, journey mapping, IA, wireframes, user testing, WordPress, ticketing and CRM integration. Eva Philips

If you already have strong internal development/design resources, bringing in a specialist like this just for discovery, UX and information architecture could be a very good alternative to hiring a full-service agency.

How I'd narrow it down

If I were issuing the RFP, I'd probably invite 4–5 firms:

1. PRPL — strongest comparable Chicago museum redesign.
2. Bluecadet — strongest for collections/storytelling and sophisticated digital experiences.
3. Sandstorm — strongest UX/research-oriented Chicago option.
4. Cuberis — strongest museum-specific platform/CMS option.
5. Landslide Creative — strong museum specialization and audience/IA focus.

I would make them all respond to the same short brief, particularly asking for:

• 2–3 comparable museum/cultural-institution projects
• who would actually be on your project team
• their approach to visitor research and usability testing
• examples of improving ticketing/visit planning
• accessibility/WCAG approach
• CMS and third-party integration experience (especially Tessitura, ticketing, CRM, collections)
• how they handle 1,000+ page content migrations
• post-launch support and internal staff training
• a rough budget range

One important distinction: don't let "museum experience" by itself win the RFP. A beautiful museum portfolio can hide weak information architecture, accessibility, search, mobile visit planning, or CMS strategy. Those are the areas I'd make agencies prove during the selection process.

If you tell me which Chicago museum you're renovating and roughly how large/complex the site is, I can turn this into a tighter 3–5 agency shortlist with comparable projects, strengths, likely fit, and questions to ask each one.

One important distinction: don't let "museum experience" by itself win the RFP. A beautiful museum portfolio can hide weak information architecture, accessibility, search, mobile visit planning, or CMS strategy. Those are the areas I'd make agencies prove during the selection process.

If you tell me which Chicago museum you're renovating and roughly how large/complex the site is, I can turn this into a tighter 3–5 agency shortlist with comparable projects, strengths, likely fit, and questions to ask each one.

• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Studio Blue - 20 W Hubbard St #3W, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• Envoy Group, LLC (formerly Leviathan) - 211 N Clinton St #2S, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• The Maude Group - 311 W Monroe St Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• Studio/lab - 860 N Lake Shore Dr #24L, Chicago, IL 60611, United States

Yes. For a Chicago museum website, I’d prioritize agencies that understand the unusual combination of visitor planning, collections/content, accessibility, ticketing/membership, education, and lots of internal stakeholders—not just agencies that happen to do attractive websites.

My shortlist

• Sandstorm Design — A strong Chicago option if you want UX strategy + research + website design/development. They have documented cultural-institution work, including a UX/creative project for the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute, with goals around exhibitions, events, membership, donations, and visitation. Ancient Cultures Institute Ancient Cultures Institute

Best for: a substantial institutional redesign where research and stakeholder alignment matter.

• Studio Blue — Particularly interesting if your museum wants a partner with a deep cultural/academic design background. Their work includes the Art Institute of Chicago and other museums and cultural organizations.

Best for: museums where brand, editorial content, visual identity, and digital experience need to work together.

• elbē interactive — A Chicago studio focused specifically on interactive digital experiences for museums and cultural environments, including work associated with the Field Museum and Adler Planetarium.

Best for: a site that connects to physical exhibits, interactive storytelling, or other visitor-facing digital experiences.

• Field Theory — This one is especially compelling if your redesign goes beyond the website. They're Chicago-based and explicitly work at the intersection of digital strategy, guest experience, ticketing/CRM, in-gallery experiences, and virtual engagement; their featured cultural clients include the Muhammad Ali Center and American Alliance of Museums. Field Theory

Best for: a broader digital transformation rather than simply a new CMS/site.

• Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — Worth putting on the RFP list because they redesigned the Field Museum website. The project involved restructuring more than 2,000 pages, visit planning, accessibility, content discovery, and a scalable component system. Their reported results included a 47% reduction in reliance on homepage search and a 360% increase in mobile clicks toward ticketing. Joshua Hurtado Purple Rock Scissors

Best for: a large museum with complex information architecture and significant content.

• Cuberis — Not Chicago-local, but I'd include them if museum-specific web expertise outweighs proximity. They specialize in museum websites and cite work for the Illinois Holocaust Museum, Saint Louis Art Museum, and Telfair Museums, including collection-database integrations and usability studies. Cuberis

Best for: a museum-heavy WordPress project with collections, membership, third-party systems, and staff governance.

• AREA 17 — Another strong candidate if you're willing to go beyond Chicago. Their Art Institute of Chicago work is unusually relevant: they tackled artwork discovery, visit planning, events, complex research content, responsive UX, information architecture, and user research. Christophe da Silva

Best for: an ambitious, high-end digital experience where the collection itself is central to the website.

• Carney — Another cultural-sector specialist worth considering. Their museum work combines UX, content strategy, accessibility, SEO, and website development; their Westmoreland Museum of American Art project is a useful reference point. Carney

If it were my RFP

I'd probably invite Sandstorm, Purple Rock Scissors, Studio Blue, Field Theory, and Cuberis to an initial conversation.

The important distinction I'd make is:

One particularly useful benchmark is the Adler Planetarium redesign: its project covered UX/content audits, stakeholder interviews, workshops, journey mapping, IA, wireframes, usability testing, CMS training, ticketing, and CRM integration. That's roughly the breadth I'd expect a serious museum-web RFP to address. Eva Philips

If you tell me which Chicago museum, approximate budget, CMS (if you have one), and whether you're looking for design-only vs. design + development, I can narrow this to 3 agencies I'd actually interview and explain why each is a fit.

• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Futurehaus - 125 S Clark St Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• The Maude Group - 311 W Monroe St Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• Studio Blue - 20 W Hubbard St #3W, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Artversion - 205 N Michigan Ave 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States

If the priority is UX for a museum/cultural institution, rather than just finding a good general web-design shop, I’d put these agencies on your shortlist:

• Sandstorm Design — Probably one of the strongest Chicago fits for a substantial museum website redesign. They combine UX research, strategy, content, visual design and development, and have experience with cultural/educational institutions. Their work with the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute, for example, involved a substantial UX/UI process around exhibitions, events, donations and visits. Ancient Cultures Institute
• Clique Studios — A good choice if you're looking for a larger digital partner capable of taking on strategy → UX → content → engineering. Their service mix includes information architecture, usability testing and accessibility, which are particularly important for museum sites.
• Futurehaus — Worth considering if the museum needs to make a complicated mission, collection or programming easier to understand. They position themselves specifically around mission-driven organizations and cultural institutions, combining storytelling, content architecture, UX and technology.
• elbē interactive — Especially interesting if the website needs to connect with physical museum experiences, interactives, kiosks or installations. They're Chicago-based and work specifically on museum digital/interactive experiences.
• UX 4Sight — More UX-specialist than museum-specialist. I'd consider them if you already have strong web development resources but need rigorous user research, usability testing, UX strategy and information architecture.

Two firms I'd look at beyond Chicago

Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) has particularly relevant evidence: they redesigned the Field Museum's site. The project produced an 87% increase in clicks from visit pages to ticketing, a 47% reduction in homepage search reliance on desktop, and a 360% increase in ticketing clicks from visit pages on mobile. Purple Rock Scissors That's unusually close to the problem most museums are trying to solve.

Bluecadet is another very strong cultural-sector candidate. They redesigned the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago website, covering UX/visual design, content strategy and development. Bluecadet

I'd also interview Cuberis if your project involves collections, memberships, donations or complicated museum content. They specialize in museum websites and have worked with institutions including the Saint Louis Art Museum and Illinois Holocaust Museum, including collection-database integration. Cuberis

My shortlist

If I were issuing an RFP, I'd probably invite Sandstorm, PRPL, Bluecadet, Futurehaus, and Cuberis to pitch.

I'd evaluate them less on visual portfolios and more on whether they can demonstrate:

1. Visitor research — did they actually observe/interview museum visitors?
2. Visit planning UX — hours, tickets, directions, parking, accessibility, exhibitions and events.
3. Information architecture — especially if you have thousands of collection/exhibition/education pages.
4. Accessibility — ideally WCAG expertise baked into discovery and design, not a final QA exercise.
5. CMS/editorial UX — can your relatively small museum staff actually maintain the thing?
6. Stakeholder management — museums have curators, educators, development, marketing, visitor services, IT, leadership, etc.
7. Integrations — ticketing, Tessitura/CRM, collections database, events, memberships and donations.

One especially useful benchmark is Adler Planetarium: its redesign involved UX/content audits, stakeholder interviews, workshops, journey mapping, IA, wireframing and user testing, followed by a custom WordPress build integrating ticketing and CRM. Eva Philips

If you tell me which Chicago museum this is, roughly how large the site is, and your approximate budget ($50–100k, $100–250k, $250k+, etc.), I can narrow this to 3 agencies I'd actually invite to the RFP and explain why each one fits.

I'd evaluate them less on visual portfolios and more on whether they can demonstrate:

• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• Neoteric Design - 29 E Madison St, Ste 450, Chicago, IL 60602
• Dialogue Theory - 1932 S Halsted St #509, Chicago, IL 60608, United States
• Artversion - 205 N Michigan Ave 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601
• The Maude Group - 311 W Monroe St Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Studio/lab - 860 N Lake Shore Dr #24L, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Futurehaus - 125 S Clark St Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Studio Blue - 20 W Hubbard St #3W, Chicago, IL 60654, United States

Yes. For a Chicago museum, I’d prioritize agencies that can demonstrate actual museum/cultural UX work, not just attractive nonprofit websites. Based on that criterion, I’d put these on the shortlist:

1. Sandstorm Design — strongest Chicago all-around candidate

• Chicago-based digital/UX agency with a research-driven approach.
• They’ve worked with mission-driven organizations and have a particularly strong UX/strategy orientation.
• The Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago used Sandstorm for a UX/UI process and a digital experience designed to drive museum visits, events, membership and donations. Ancient Cultures Institute Ancient Cultures Institute
• Best if: you need strategy, UX research, IA, content strategy and implementation—not just visual redesign.
• Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — especially compelling museum proof

• Their redesign of the Field Museum is unusually relevant to your situation.
• They reworked more than 2,000 pages, redesigned the information architecture, addressed accessibility, and focused heavily on visit planning.
• Reported results included 87% more clicks to ticketing from visit pages on desktop, 360% more on mobile, and 47% less reliance on search from the homepage. Purple Rock Scissors Joshua Hurtado
• Best if: your big problems are navigation, enormous content inventories, ticketing/visit planning and accessibility.
• AREA 17 — excellent benchmark if you're after sophisticated digital UX

• They were behind the digital experience for the Art Institute of Chicago, including research, discovery, UX strategy, interaction design and information architecture. Christophe da Silva
• Their approach explicitly balanced casual visitors with researchers needing much deeper collection information.
• Best if: your museum has a significant collection/archive component and you want a sophisticated editorial + collection experience.
• Luci Creative — consider for a broader visitor-experience project

• Chicago-area studio with substantial museum and cultural-institution experience.
• Their strength is more experience/exhibit design and storytelling than conventional website UX.
• Best if: the website needs to connect closely with physical exhibitions, interpretation and the overall visitor experience.
• Cuberis — worth adding to the RFP

• They're highly specialized in museum websites, including UX, WordPress, collections, memberships and integrations.
• Their portfolio includes the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, Saint Louis Art Museum and Telfair Museums. They specifically describe usability studies preceding redesigns. Cuberis
• Best if: you need a robust museum CMS and integrations as much as you need design.
• IDE Interactive, Inc. — interesting Chicago option for interactive/technical work

• Local studio whose work spans museum interactives, kiosks, large displays and digital experiences.
• Best if: your web project is likely to overlap with interactive exhibits or other on-site digital experiences.

How I'd narrow it

If I were running the museum's selection process, my first three conversations would be Sandstorm, PRPL and AREA 17.

One thing I'd not do is choose based primarily on the visual portfolio. For a museum, I'd make every finalist walk you through how they conduct visitor research, restructure IA, handle collections metadata, design the events calendar, integrate ticketing/membership/CRM, meet WCAG accessibility requirements, and establish governance for hundreds or thousands of pages.

If you tell me which Chicago museum you are (or roughly its size/type—art, history, science, children's, etc.), I can narrow this to 3–5 agencies that are genuinely comparable to your institution and pull together their relevant museum projects, likely budget tier, strengths/weaknesses, and who I'd invite to the RFP.

• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Adage Technologies - 10 S Riverside Plaza Ste 1500, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• GoodFolk - 125 S Clark St 17th Floor, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Envoy Group, LLC (formerly Leviathan) - 211 N Clinton St #2S, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• the Binary Artists - 100 S State St, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Futurehaus - 125 S Clark St Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Culture Strategy Partners - 1550 N State Pkwy, Chicago, IL 60610, United States
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• Neoteric Design - 29 E Madison St, Ste 450, Chicago, IL 60602
• Art On the Loose Inc - 1740 W 99th St, Chicago, IL 60643, United States

If the priority is UX for a museum/cultural institution, rather than a generic web redesign, I’d put these agencies on the shortlist:

• Sandstorm Design — A strong Chicago option for a research-driven UX engagement. They specialize in digital experiences and UX, and their Chicago work includes mission-driven organizations. Their team also worked with the Oriental Institute on a digital experience focused on exhibitions, events, donations, membership, and visits. Ancient Cultures Institute
• Adage Technologies — Particularly worth considering if your museum has complex integrations—ticketing, CRM, membership, ecommerce, collections, etc. They explicitly work in arts, culture, and entertainment as well as museums.
• Clique Studios — A good candidate if you want a larger digital-transformation partner covering UX, content strategy, accessibility, engineering, and ongoing optimization.
• GoodFolk — Interesting if you want a smaller, mission-oriented team. Their work spans cultural institutions and content-heavy organizations, with UX and content architecture at the center.
• IDE Interactive, Inc. — Especially compelling if the website will connect to interactive museum experiences, kiosks, installations, or other digital exhibits, rather than being purely a conventional website.
• Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — Not Chicago-based, but I would absolutely put them in an RFP. They redesigned the Field Museum's site, including information architecture, personas, card sorting, user testing, accessibility, and visitor journeys. Their reported results included substantially more clicks from visit pages into ticketing. Purple Rock Scissors Purple Rock Scissors
• Bluecadet — Another particularly relevant firm because they redesigned the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago's website. Their work included UX/visual design, content strategy, and a sophisticated collection explorer with improved taxonomy, search, filtering, and related-content discovery. Bluecadet

My top 3 for your situation

I'd probably invite Sandstorm, PRPL, and Bluecadet to pitch, with Adage as a fourth if your technical/integration requirements are substantial.

The reason I'd favor those over a generic Chicago web agency is that museum UX has some unusually difficult problems: visitor planning, ticketing, exhibitions/events, collections, education, membership/donations, accessibility, and very different audiences ranging from casual visitors to researchers. The Field Museum and MCA projects demonstrate exactly that kind of complexity. Purple Rock Scissors Bluecadet

One other useful benchmark: the Smart Museum's Chicago redesign involved stakeholder interviews across curatorial, education, communications, and guest services, followed by competitive analysis, information architecture and wireframing. That's the sort of discovery-first process I'd require in your RFP rather than letting agencies jump straight to visual comps. Claire Micklin

If you tell me which Chicago museum, approximate budget, and whether you're looking for strategy + UX only or full redesign/development, I can narrow this to 3–5 agencies and compare their relevant museum work, likely fit, and strengths.

• Field Museum - 1400 S Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, IL 60605, United States
• Museum Of Contemporary Art Chicago - 220 E Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• GoodFolk - 125 S Clark St 17th Floor, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• Bark Design - 3115 W Montrose Ave, Chicago, IL 60618
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Crux Creative - 1433 N Water St #400, Milwaukee, WI 53202, United States
• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Futurehaus - 125 S Clark St Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• Art On the Loose Inc - 1740 W 99th St, Chicago, IL 60643, United States
• The Maude Group - 311 W Monroe St Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States

Yes. For a Chicago museum, I’d prioritize agencies that can demonstrate actual museum/cultural UX work, not just attractive nonprofit websites. Based on their portfolios and current positioning, I’d put these on the shortlist:

My top picks

1. Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — probably my first call if the project is a substantial website redesign. They redesigned the Field Museum website, including information architecture, personas, card sorting, user testing, accessibility, and visit-planning journeys. Their published results include an 87% increase in clicks to ticketing from visit pages on desktop and 360% on mobile. Purple Rock Scissors Purple Rock Scissors
2. Bluecadet — especially interesting if you want the site to feel like an extension of the museum experience rather than a conventional marketing website. They worked on the Museum Of Contemporary Art Chicago website redesign across UX/visual design, content strategy, and development. Bluecadet
3. Urban Insight — a strong choice if your project has complex collections, ticketing, membership, donations, accessibility, or integrations. They specifically specialize in arts & culture and cite work involving online collections, IIIF, accessibility, ticketing/donations platforms, and DAM systems. Urban Insight
4. Landslide Creative — worth considering if you want a museum-focused partner that emphasizes audience prioritization, accessibility, mobile UX, and maintainability. They explicitly work with museums and cultural institutions and have experience balancing visitors, donors, educators, members, volunteers, and researchers. Landslide Creative
5. Sandstorm Design — a good Chicago-local option if you want a more research-driven UX partner. Sandstorm Design positions itself around UX, research, strategy, and digital experiences for purpose-driven organizations.
6. GoodFolk — I'd investigate if you're looking for a smaller, more boutique team. GoodFolk focuses on mission-driven organizations and content-heavy digital experiences, including cultural institutions.

A couple of specialist options

• elbē interactive is particularly interesting if your museum website needs to connect with immersive/interactive experiences, exhibitions, or physical installations.
• Studio Blue has deep Chicago cultural/institutional experience and could be a strong fit if brand, editorial design, and digital experience need to be considered together.
• Luci Creative is worth a look if the project crosses over into interpretive/exhibition experience design rather than being purely a website project.

One important distinction

I'd separate the shortlist into two camps:

One particularly compelling benchmark is the Art Institute of Chicago: its digital redesign work involved research, discovery, UX strategy, interaction design, visitor observation, stakeholder interviews, and designing around both artwork discovery and practical visit planning. Christophe da Silva

If I were issuing an RFP, I'd invite PRPL, Bluecadet, Urban Insight, and Landslide Creative to pitch, then use the pitch to test how each agency handles your actual visitor journeys—not just their visual design.

If you tell me which Chicago museum you’re renovating and roughly the project budget ($100k, $250k, $500k+, etc.), I can narrow this to 3 agencies and compare their relevant museum projects, UX approach, likely strengths/weaknesses, and who I'd actually hire.

• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• GoodFolk - 125 S Clark St 17th Floor, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Carol Fox and Associates - 1120 W Belmont Ave, Chicago, IL 60657, United States
• Bark Design - 3115 W Montrose Ave, Chicago, IL 60618
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Sandbox Studio, Chicago - 1608 W Cornelia Ave, Chicago, IL 60657, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• The Maude Group - 311 W Monroe St Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Envisionit - 130 E Randolph St #1600, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• Studio Blue - 20 W Hubbard St #3W, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States

Yes. For a Chicago museum, I’d prioritize agencies that understand museum visitor journeys, collections/content-heavy IA, accessibility, ticketing/membership, and institutional stakeholder complexity—not just agencies that make attractive nonprofit websites.

My shortlist

• Sandstorm Design — Probably my first call for a UX-led Chicago search. They’re Chicago-based and explicitly emphasize UX research, usability testing, information architecture, navigation, and research-driven digital experiences. They also have cultural-sector experience: the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute worked with Sandstorm on a digital experience involving UX/UI, deep research content, events, membership, donations, and museum visits. Ancient Cultures Institute

sandstormdesign.com

• GoodFolk — Strong boutique option for mission-driven institutions. Their positioning centers on digital strategy, design, and development for cultural institutions and other content-heavy organizations. I'd consider them particularly if your problem is as much content architecture and institutional storytelling as visual redesign.
• Orbit Media Studios — Good choice if you want a larger, established Chicago web partner. They combine UX, content strategy, development, SEO, and ongoing optimization, and have worked with Chicago cultural organizations including Goodman Theatre and Chicago Museum Tours. Orbit Media Studios

orbitmedia.com

• Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — I'd put them high on the RFP list specifically because they have direct Chicago museum website experience: they redesigned the Field Museum's site. Their published results include an 87% increase in clicks to ticketing from visit pages on desktop, a 360% increase on mobile, and a 47% reduction in reliance on homepage search. Purple Rock Scissors

purplerockscissors.com

• Cuberis — Worth considering if the museum's website is especially collection/content/platform-heavy. They specialize in museum websites and WordPress and cite work for museums including the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Saint Louis Art Museum. Their museum approach includes usability studies, collection-database integration, third-party systems, and staff training. Cuberis

cuberis.com

• Landslide Creative — Another museum-specialist I'd interview, particularly if you're looking for strategy + IA + accessibility + implementation rather than just a design shop. They explicitly work with museums and cultural institutions and describe a strategy-first process involving audience prioritization, user journeys, information architecture, UX, and WCAG-oriented design. Landslide Creative

landslidecreative.com

One especially interesting wildcard

If you're willing to look beyond traditional web agencies, Luci Creative is worth a conversation. They're a Chicago-area experience-design firm with substantial museum/interpretive-experience work. That's particularly interesting if you want the website to connect more intentionally with the physical museum experience, interpretation, exhibitions, and storytelling, rather than treating the site as a standalone marketing property.

Who I'd put in the first RFP

If this were my museum, I'd probably invite Sandstorm, PRPL, Cuberis, and Landslide to the first round.

They represent four somewhat different approaches:

There's also a useful benchmark right in Chicago: the Art Institute of Chicago's digital work involved extensive UX research, visitor observation, stakeholder interviews, user journeys, IA, and balancing casual visitors with researchers and other advanced users. Christophe da Silva That's exactly the kind of complexity I'd want prospective agencies to demonstrate they can handle.

One thing I'd change in your RFP: don't ask agencies simply to "redesign the website." Ask them to demonstrate how they'd improve visit planning, ticket conversion, membership, accessibility, collection discovery, event discovery, and mobile UX, and require evidence from comparable cultural institutions.

If you tell me which Chicago museum this is and roughly your budget ($100–250k, $250–500k, $500k+, etc.), I can narrow this to 3 agencies and compare their relevant museum case studies, likely strengths, and potential red flags.

• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• GoodFolk - 125 S Clark St 17th Floor, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• Nicer Collaborative: A Creative Studio - 1361 N Ashland Ave Storefront, Chicago, IL 60622, United States
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• Firebelly Design - 1402 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60622, United States
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• Advocate Creative - 320 N Damen Ave d301, Chicago, IL 60612, United States
• Futurehaus - 125 S Clark St Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Bark Design - 4330 N California Ave Store Front, Chicago, IL 60618, United States
• IDEO Chicago - 626 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States

For a Chicago museum, I’d put museum/cultural-sector experience ahead of generic “great UX” credentials. Based on current portfolios and Chicago presence, these are the agencies I’d shortlist:

1. Sandstorm Design — Probably my first call if you want a research-driven UX + strategy + website partner. They’re Chicago-based and have a strong track record with complex, mission-driven organizations. Their work with the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute included a thorough UX/UI process and a digital experience designed to drive exhibitions, events, membership and donations. Ancient Cultures Institute
2. Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — Especially strong museum-specific evidence. They redesigned the Field Museum website, including a major information-architecture overhaul. The published results are unusually concrete: 87% more clicks to ticketing from visit pages on desktop, 360% more on mobile, and a 47% reduction in homepage search reliance. Purple Rock Scissors Joshua Hurtado

I'd absolutely include them in an RFP.

3. GoodFolk — A particularly interesting option if your site is content-heavy and mission-driven. They position themselves around cultural institutions, universities, publications and other organizations with complicated information architectures, combining digital strategy, UX/UI and development.
4. elbē interactive — Worth considering if the museum website needs to connect with interactive/immersive visitor experiences. They're Chicago-based and specifically work on digital experiences for museums and cultural environments.
5. Studio Blue — A more design-oriented Chicago studio with experience serving museums and cultural/academic institutions. I'd investigate them if institutional identity, editorial design and the relationship between the physical museum and digital experience are important.
6. Kanopi Studios — Not Chicago-local, but their cultural-institution credentials are strong. Their Frick Collection project covered research/discovery, UX, content strategy, design, development and support, including restructuring a large, complex museum site and addressing accessibility. Kanopi Studios
7. Urban Insight — Another national contender I'd consider if you're dealing with ticketing, membership, donations, collections and complex content. Their museum UX practice explicitly focuses on information architecture, card sorting, analytics and usability work tied to conversion and engagement. Urban Insight

My shortlist

If I were running the selection process, I'd invite PRPL, Sandstorm, GoodFolk and Kanopi to the first round.

I'd differentiate them roughly like this:

One important distinction: don't let the pitch become primarily about visual redesign. For a museum, I'd make the RFP test agencies on information architecture, visitor journey design, accessibility, events/exhibitions, collections discovery, ticketing, membership/donations, mobile trip planning, and how well your internal staff can actually maintain the resulting CMS.

If you tell me which Chicago museum it is, your approximate budget, and whether you're looking for strategy/UX only or full redesign + development, I can narrow this to 3 agencies and compare their relevant museum projects, likely strengths, and fit.

For a Chicago museum website renovation, I’d look less for a general web agency and more for a partner that understands museum visitor journeys, collections storytelling, accessibility, ticketing/membership flows, and the realities of many internal stakeholders. A few agencies worth considering:

Strong museum/cultural UX specialists

Bluecadet

A strong fit if you want a highly experiential, brand-forward museum site. They redesigned the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago website, combining UX, content strategy, design, and development around the museum’s identity. Bluecadet

Best for:

• Art museums and culturally ambitious institutions
• Storytelling-driven redesigns
• Digital experiences beyond a basic CMS site

Cuberis

Cuberis specializes in museum websites and has experience with collection databases, membership, exhibitions, and content-heavy platforms. Their museum work includes institutions such as the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center and Saint Louis Art Museum. Cuberis

Best for:

• Large collections
• Complex CMS needs
• Museums that need staff-friendly publishing workflows

Oomph, Inc.

Oomph has done deep UX work for cultural institutions, including information architecture, accessibility, research, and digital experience systems for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Oomph, Inc

Best for:

• Accessibility-first redesigns
• Large-scale UX strategy
• Institutions needing governance and scalable design systems

Plein Air Interactive

A museum-focused digital agency that works specifically around extending the visitor experience online through websites, mobile, and interactive experiences. Plein Air Interactive

Best for:

• Museums wanting digital interpretation and engagement
• Mobile/exhibit-connected experiences

Chicago-area firms to put on the shortlist

Purple Rock Scissors

Worth a look because of their work with Chicago’s Field Museum website redesign. Their project focused on improving visitor journeys, ticketing pathways, and navigation. Purple Rock Scissors

Best for:

• Chicago institutions
• Visitor conversion improvements
• Improving “plan your visit” experiences

Orbit Media Studios

A Chicago agency with extensive nonprofit and cultural-sector web experience. Their work includes Chicago cultural organizations and content-heavy sites. Orbit Media Studios

Best for:

• Museums needing strong CMS implementation
• Practical redesigns with maintainability in mind

If I were creating an RFP shortlist, I’d probably invite:

1. Bluecadet — for a distinctive, museum-brand digital experience
2. Cuberis — for museum-specific platform expertise
3. Oomph — for UX strategy, accessibility, and complex organizations
4. Purple Rock Scissors — for Chicago relevance and visitor-flow optimization
5. Plein Air Interactive — for museum-native digital engagement

When interviewing them, I’d ask:

• “Show us three museum sites you redesigned and what changed in visitor behavior.”
• “How do you research visitors who don’t currently come to the museum?”
• “How do you balance curatorial priorities with visitor usability?”
• “What accessibility standards do you build toward?”
• “How do you improve ticketing, events, memberships, and donations without making the site feel transactional?”

If you share the museum type (art, history, science, children’s, etc.), approximate budget, and whether you need a full rebuild vs. UX redesign, I can narrow this to a tighter 3–4 agency shortlist.

• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• GoodFolk - 125 S Clark St 17th Floor, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Span - 650 W Lake St Ste 410, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Futurehaus - 125 S Clark St Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Bluestone & Associates - 5225 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• One North, A TEKsystems Company - 227 W Monroe St #3500, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Art On the Loose Inc - 1740 W 99th St, Chicago, IL 60643, United States
• Bark Design - 4330 N California Ave Store Front, Chicago, IL 60618, United States
• Neoteric Design - 29 E Madison St, Ste 450, Chicago, IL 60602
• The Maude Group - 311 W Monroe St Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Dialogue Theory - 1932 S Halsted St #509, Chicago, IL 60608, United States

For a Chicago museum, I’d prioritize agencies that understand visitor journeys, collections/content, accessibility, ticketing/membership, and the realities of museum governance—not just agencies that make attractive websites.

Here’s the shortlist I’d put at the top of an RFP:

• Sandstorm Design — Probably my first Chicago call for UX-heavy work. They emphasize UX research, usability testing, information architecture, and digital strategy, and they have a long history working with mission-driven organizations. Their Chicago-based team also worked with the Oriental Institute on a UX/creative digital experience. Ancient Cultures Institute
• GoodFolk — A good fit if your museum is content-heavy and mission-driven. They focus on cultural institutions, universities, think tanks and nonprofits, with strategy, UX/UI and web development under one roof.
• Studio Blue — Particularly interesting if the website needs to connect with your broader museum identity, exhibitions and visitor communications. They're deeply oriented toward cultural and academic institutions and have worked on web experiences alongside museum design.
• Cuberis — Not Chicago-based, but I'd absolutely include them if you're open to a national search. They specialize specifically in museum websites and cite work for the Illinois Holocaust Museum, Saint Louis Art Museum and Telfair Museums. Their work includes usability studies, collections integration, WordPress, accessibility and staff training. Cuberis
• elbē interactive — Worth considering if the project extends beyond the website into interactive exhibits or digital interpretation. They're Chicago-based and specifically work with museums and branded/educational environments.
• Span — An interesting local option if brand + website are intertwined. Their cultural portfolio includes the Intuit Art Museum and Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.
• Futurehaus — Good candidate if you need to translate a complicated institutional mission into a clearer digital story; they combine strategy, storytelling, UX/content architecture and development.

One I'd investigate especially closely

Field Theory looks unusually aligned with a museum's whole visitor journey, rather than treating the website as an isolated marketing property. They're Chicago-based and work specifically at the intersection of digital and guest experience, including ticketing/CRM integration, visitor engagement and digital strategy. Field Theory

There's also very recent evidence of this direction in Chicago: Brookfield Zoo Chicago partnered with DEPT in 2026 to rethink its digital experience around pre-, during-, and post-visit engagement, rather than simply rebuilding a conventional museum-style website. DEPT®

A useful benchmark

I'd ask every agency to show you one museum/cultural project where they can demonstrate the UX process, not merely the finished visual design.

For example, the Field Museum redesign involved restructuring 2,000+ pages, with visit planning and accessibility explicitly treated as UX problems. Joshua Hurtado The Art Institute of Chicago's digital work similarly focused on visitor planning, artwork discovery, information architecture, mobile, and balancing general visitors with researchers. Christophe da Silva

For your RFP, I'd specifically ask candidates to demonstrate:

• Visitor research: Have they actually observed/interviewed museum visitors?
• Information architecture: Can they tame exhibitions, events, collections, programs, learning resources and institutional content?
• Visit planning: Hours, tickets, directions, accessibility, parking, dining, events, etc. should be exceptionally easy to find.
• Collections UX: Can users discover and understand objects without the experience becoming a database interface?
• Membership/donations: Can they improve conversion without making the site feel like a sales funnel?
• Accessibility: Ask for concrete WCAG experience, testing methodology and accessibility QA.
• CMS governance: Can your staff actually maintain the thing after launch?
• Integrations: Ticketing, CRM, collections database, event calendar, analytics and search are often where museum projects become difficult.
• Research after launch: Ask how they'll measure whether the redesign actually improved visitor outcomes.

If I were narrowing this to three initial conversations, I'd start with Sandstorm, Cuberis, and Field Theory—they represent three slightly different approaches: UX/digital strategy, museum-specialist web development, and holistic visitor experience.

If you tell me which Chicago museum it is, your approximate project budget, and whether you need design-only or design + development, I can narrow this to 3–5 agencies and compare their relevant museum work, likely fit, and questions to ask in the RFP.

For your RFP, I'd specifically ask candidates to demonstrate:

• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Field Museum - 1400 S Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, IL 60605, United States
• Futurehaus - 125 S Clark St Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• The Art Institute of Chicago - 111 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Bridgewater Studio - 1128 N Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60622, United States
• GoodFolk - 125 S Clark St 17th Floor, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Agency EA - 311 W Walton St, Chicago, IL 60610, United States
• Genuine - John Hancock Center, 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Nansen LLC - 300 W Hubbard St Ste 301, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Midwest Immersive - 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza Suit 1212, Chicago, IL 60654, United States

Yes. For a Chicago museum, I’d prioritize agencies that understand museum-specific visitor journeys, complex content/collections, accessibility, ticketing, membership, and internal stakeholder management—not just agencies that make attractive nonprofit websites.

My shortlist would be:

1. Sandstorm Design — Probably the first Chicago firm I’d interview. They specialize in research-driven UX and digital experiences for purpose-driven organizations, and they have a long Chicago track record. They’re a particularly good fit if you need strategy + UX research + website design/development, rather than simply a visual redesign.
2. Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — Strongest evidence of museum website UX at scale. They redesigned the Field Museum website, including information architecture, personas, card sorting and user testing. Their published results include an 87% increase in clicks to ticketing from visit pages on desktop and 360% on mobile, plus a 47% reduction in reliance on homepage search. Purple Rock Scissors Purple Rock Scissors
3. Cuberis — Worth serious consideration if your museum has a complicated CMS/collections ecosystem. They explicitly specialize in museum websites and have worked with institutions including the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Saint Louis Art Museum. Their case studies emphasize usability studies, collections databases, third-party integrations and staff training. Cuberis
4. Futurehaus — A smaller Chicago option I'd consider if you want a more boutique relationship. Their positioning combines strategy, storytelling, UX/UI, content architecture and development for mission-driven and cultural organizations.
5. Studio Blue — Particularly interesting if the project needs to bridge museum brand, editorial/content design and digital experience. They have extensive experience with cultural and academic institutions and have worked on web experiences connected to the Art Institute of Chicago.
6. AREA 17 — Not Chicago-local in the same sense, but potentially a very strong candidate for a sophisticated institution. Their work on the The Art Institute of Chicago involved UX strategy, research, journey mapping, information architecture and interaction design, including the challenge of serving both casual visitors and researchers with much deeper information needs. Christophe da Silva

How I'd narrow it down

If I were running your RFP, I'd probably invite PRPL, Sandstorm, and Cuberis to pitch, with Futurehaus or Studio Blue as the boutique alternative.

The key distinction I'd make in interviews is:

• PRPL: strongest museum-specific proof of measurable UX outcomes
• Sandstorm: strongest Chicago-based UX/digital strategy partner
• Cuberis: strongest museum-platform/CMS/integration specialist
• Futurehaus/Studio Blue: potentially better if you want a smaller, more design-led relationship
• AREA 17: strongest wildcard for an ambitious, nationally visible digital experience

One thing I'd not do is select primarily on visual design. Museum sites have unusually difficult UX problems: visitors planning a trip, members, donors, educators, researchers, journalists, families, tourists and local repeat visitors can all have completely different needs. The Field Museum and Art Institute examples are good illustrations of why information architecture and audience research matter as much as the visual layer. Purple Rock Scissors Christophe da Silva

If you tell me which Chicago museum you’re renovating and roughly what budget you're contemplating (e.g. <$100k, $100–250k, $250–500k, $500k+), I can narrow this to 3 agencies and compare their relevant museum projects, UX capabilities, likely fit, and questions to ask in the RFP.

• Museum Of Contemporary Art Chicago - 220 E Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Field Museum - 1400 S Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, IL 60605, United States
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• Envoy Group, LLC (formerly Leviathan) - 211 N Clinton St #2S, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• The Maude Group - 311 W Monroe St Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Art On the Loose Inc - 1740 W 99th St, Chicago, IL 60643, United States
• Museum Explorer Inc - 2300 Kenilworth Ave, Berwyn, IL 60402, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• Crux Creative - 1433 N Water St #400, Milwaukee, WI 53202, United States
• Span - 650 W Lake St Ste 410, Chicago, IL 60661, United States

For a Chicago museum website renovation, I’d prioritize agencies that understand museum visitor journeys (planning a visit, exhibitions, collections, education, memberships, donations), not just general web design. A few strong candidates to consider:

Strong museum-specific UX candidates

Bluecadet

Bluecadet is one of the clearest fits if you want a museum-focused partner. They redesigned the website for Museum Of Contemporary Art Chicago, with work spanning UX, content strategy, visual design, and development. Their museum portfolio also includes other major cultural institutions. Bluecadet

Good fit if you need:

• Complex collections and exhibition storytelling
• Strong editorial design
• Modern, immersive museum experiences
• A partner comfortable with large cultural organizations

Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL)

PRPL has direct Chicago museum experience through its redesign work for Field Museum. Their work emphasized information architecture, visit planning, accessibility, and helping users find exhibitions, tickets, and educational resources. Purple Rock Scissors Purple Rock Scissors

Good fit if you need:

• Better navigation and IA
• Conversion improvements (tickets, memberships, donations)
• A data-informed UX overhaul

Orbit Media Studios

Orbit is Chicago-based and has substantial nonprofit/cultural experience, including the redesign of Goodman Theatre’s website. Orbit Media Studios

Good fit if you need:

• A collaborative local partner
• CMS strategy and maintainability
• Content-heavy institutional websites

Additional firms worth exploring

Landslide Creative

Landslide specializes in museum and cultural institution websites, including UX strategy, accessibility, CMS implementation, and content organization. Landslide Creative

Good fit if you need:

• A museum-specialist vendor
• Accessibility-first design
• A practical, staff-friendly CMS

IDE Interactive

Chicago-based IDE Interactive focuses on human-centered digital products, websites, and interactive experiences.

Good fit if you need:

• Custom digital experiences
• Integrations or interactive features
• More product-oriented UX work

Studio Blue

Studio Blue has worked with cultural and academic institutions and focuses on making complex institutional content clearer across digital and physical touchpoints.

Good fit if you need:

• Brand + website alignment
• Strong visual storytelling
• A refined institutional aesthetic

How I’d shortlist them

For a typical museum redesign RFP, I’d probably invite:

1. Bluecadet — if the goal is a world-class digital museum experience
2. Purple Rock Scissors — if the priority is usability, audience growth, and visit conversion
3. Orbit Media — if you want a strong Chicago partner with practical CMS expertise
4. Landslide Creative — if you want a museum-focused specialist

When interviewing agencies, I’d ask for:

• A case study showing user research and testing, not just pretty screens
• Examples of improving ticket purchases, memberships, donations, or event discovery
• Their approach to collections search and archival content
• Accessibility process (WCAG testing, keyboard navigation, screen readers)
• CMS recommendations and how museum staff will manage content after launch

If you share which Chicago museum you’re renovating (art, history, science, university, etc.) and your rough budget range, I can narrow this to a tighter shortlist.

• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• GoodFolk - 125 S Clark St 17th Floor, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• Dialogue Theory - 1932 S Halsted St #509, Chicago, IL 60608, United States
• The Maude Group - 311 W Monroe St Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Culture Strategy Partners - 1550 N State Pkwy, Chicago, IL 60610, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Art On the Loose Inc - 1740 W 99th St, Chicago, IL 60643, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Studio Blue - 20 W Hubbard St #3W, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Artversion - 205 N Michigan Ave 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601

Yes. For a Chicago museum, I’d prioritize agencies that can demonstrate museum-specific UX work, not just attractive nonprofit websites. Based on current portfolios and Chicago presence, I’d put these on the shortlist:

• Orbit Media Studios — Worth considering if you want a strong UX/content strategy + website-development partner. They’re Chicago-based and more focused on measurable web outcomes than purely visual design.
• GoodFolk — Particularly interesting for a mission-driven, content-heavy institution. Their positioning centers on digital strategy, UX and complex content ecosystems for cultural/academic organizations.
• elbē interactive — A good candidate if your renovation has an interactive/visitor-experience component. They specifically work with museums and emphasize user-centered interactive design.
• Luci Creative — Excellent cultural-institution credentials, particularly if the website needs to connect with the museum's broader visitor/exhibition experience. Their client list includes the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago Children's Museum and other museums. Tronvig
• Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — I'd definitely interview them. They redesigned the Field Museum's website, with reported improvements including an 87% increase in clicks to ticketing from visit-related desktop pages and a 360% increase on mobile. Purple Rock Scissors
• Bluecadet — Another particularly strong museum candidate. They redesigned the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago website, covering UX/visual design, content strategy, development and concept development. Bluecadet
• Cuberis — A specialist worth considering if you want someone who really understands museum CMS/content problems. Their portfolio includes numerous museums, and they explicitly emphasize information architecture, audience prioritization, accessibility and visitor/member/donor journeys. Landslide Creative Cuberis
• AREA 17 — More of a high-end digital-product/design choice. Their Art Institute of Chicago work included research, UX strategy, interaction design, information architecture and designing around both casual visitors and researchers. Christophe da Silva

My first-round shortlist

If I were running the RFP, I'd probably invite Bluecadet, PRPL, Cuberis, GoodFolk, and AREA 17 to a first conversation.

There's a useful distinction among them:

One thing I'd specifically ask every finalist to show you: the research and UX artifacts behind a museum project, not just the final homepage. Ask to see the old/new information architecture, user research, testing results, mobile visit-planning flows, accessibility work, and how they handled ticketing, events, collections, membership and donations. Those are where museum websites tend to get genuinely difficult.

If you tell me which Chicago museum you are (or its approximate size/type), I can narrow this to 3 agencies and compare their relevant museum projects, likely strengths, and potential red flags.

For a Chicago museum, I’d prioritize agencies that can demonstrate museum-specific information architecture, visitor research, accessibility, collections/content UX, and ticketing/membership journeys—not just attractive web design.

Here’s the shortlist I’d put in front of your team:

1. Sandstorm Design — Best Chicago-based UX-first option. They’re a long-running Chicago UX/digital-experience firm with research, usability testing, information architecture, and strategy capabilities. They also have a particularly relevant cultural/academic track record; the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute documented a substantial UX/UI engagement with Sandstorm. isac.uchicago.edu

Consider them if: you want rigorous discovery and UX strategy rather than jumping straight into visual design.

2. Orbit Media Studios — Best for a full website redesign + build. Orbit combines UX, content strategy, design, development, SEO and ongoing optimization. Their cultural portfolio includes Goodman Theatre and Chicago Museum Tours, and Goodman specifically praised their understanding of the institution's mission. www.orbitmedia.com

Consider them if: you need an agency capable of taking the project all the way through launch and optimization.

3. Purple Rock Scissors — Worth a serious look if visitor planning is the central problem. They redesigned the Field Museum's website, restructuring more than 2,000 pages around visitor needs and accessibility. Reported outcomes included substantially higher clicks to ticketing and less reliance on search for navigation. joshuahurtado.com

Consider them if: your museum has a large, complicated content ecosystem and the redesign needs to measurably improve visit planning.

4. Bluecadet — Especially compelling for art/culture and collections discovery. Their redesign of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago included UX/visual design, content strategy, and a sophisticated collection explorer with improved taxonomy, search, filtering and related-content discovery. www.bluecadet.com

Consider them if: collections, exhibitions, artists and storytelling are major parts of the site's purpose.

5. Cuberis — Strong museum-specialist alternative. Their positioning is explicitly museum-focused, and their portfolio includes the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Saint Louis Art Museum. They emphasize usability studies, museum-specific platforms, collections integrations and staff training. cuberis.com

Consider them if: you need a partner who understands the operational realities of museum websites—not just UX theory.

6. Landslide Creative — Good museum-focused, strategy-first option. They explicitly work with museums and cultural institutions on audience prioritization, user journeys, information architecture, accessibility, conversions, and content-heavy sites. landslidecreative.com

Consider them if: your internal team needs a partner who can bring order to competing audiences—visitors, members, donors, educators, researchers, etc.

One more interesting route

If you want individual UX expertise rather than a large agency, Eva Philips has a particularly relevant Chicago case study: she led UX research, stakeholder interviews, journey mapping, IA, wireframes and testing for the Adler Planetarium's website and ticketing redesign. www.evaphilips.com

My suggested RFP shortlist

If this were my museum, I'd probably invite Sandstorm, Purple Rock Scissors, Bluecadet, Cuberis, and Orbit to an initial conversation.

I'd make them answer the same five questions:

• Show us a museum/cultural project where you changed the information architecture—not just the visual design.
• How did you conduct visitor/user research, and can we speak to the client?
• How would you balance visitors, members, donors, educators, researchers and internal stakeholders?
• How do you approach accessibility (ideally WCAG 2.2 AA) from discovery through development?
• What metrics would you establish before launch to prove the redesign worked?

The last question is particularly important. A museum website should be judged on things like successful visit planning, ticket conversion, event discovery, membership/donation conversion, collection discovery and accessibility, rather than whether the homepage wins design awards.

If you tell me what kind of museum you run, approximate project budget, CMS (WordPress/Drupal/etc.), and whether you're looking for UX strategy only or strategy + design + development, I can narrow this to the 3 agencies I'd actually interview and compare their relevant museum work.

• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• GoodFolk - 125 S Clark St 17th Floor, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Bridgewater Studio - 1128 N Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60622, United States
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• Angle Park, Inc. - First Floor Storefront, 2440 W Montrose Ave, Chicago, IL 60618, United States
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Museum Explorer Inc - 2300 Kenilworth Ave, Berwyn, IL 60402, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• Midwest Immersive - 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza Suit 1212, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Futurehaus - 125 S Clark St Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Nansen LLC - 300 W Hubbard St Ste 301, Chicago, IL 60654, United States

For a Chicago museum, I’d put museum-specific experience ahead of generic “great UX agency” credentials. Based on current portfolios and Chicago presence, these are the firms I’d shortlist:

My shortlist

1. Sandstorm Design — best Chicago-based UX/strategy candidate

• Chicago digital-experience agency with a strong UX/research orientation.
• Particularly worth considering if the project involves strategy, IA, stakeholder alignment, UX research, and a substantial CMS rebuild, rather than just a visual redesign.
• They also have a relevant cultural-institution precedent: their work with the Oriental Institute involved UX/UI, narrative digital experience, and goals around exhibitions, events, membership, donations, and visits. Ancient Cultures Institute
• GoodFolk — best boutique/mission-driven option

• Focuses on digital strategy, UX/UI, and development for mission-driven organizations, including cultural institutions and universities.
• I'd investigate them if you want a smaller team that will spend considerable time understanding your audiences and content rather than treating the museum as a conventional marketing site.
• Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — strongest directly relevant Chicago museum case study

• They redesigned the Field Museum's website, including a major information-architecture overhaul of 2,000+ pages.
• The published results are unusually compelling: 87% more clicks to ticketing from visit pages on desktop, 360% more on mobile, and substantially less reliance on search for navigation. Purple Rock Scissors Joshua Hurtado
• If visit planning, ticket conversion, content architecture, and usability are your priorities, I'd definitely put them in the RFP.
• AREA 17 — best if you want ambitious digital/collection UX

• Their work for the Art Institute of Chicago is highly relevant: they tackled collection discovery, audience-focused design, storytelling, accessibility, and open-source tools. AREA 17 Christophe da Silva
• This is the one I'd look at if your museum has a substantial collection/database/digital scholarship component and you want something more transformative than a conventional institutional website.
• Cuberis — best museum-specialist implementation partner

• Cuberis explicitly specializes in museum websites and has worked with museums including the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Saint Louis Art Museum.
• Their museum work covers UX/usability, collections integration, memberships, donations, ticketing and WordPress. Cuberis
• Less of a “big creative transformation” choice than AREA 17, but potentially an excellent practical partner for a complex museum site.
• Landslide Creative — strong museum-focused alternative

• They explicitly work with museums, galleries and historic sites and emphasize audience prioritization, UX, accessibility, mobile-first design and integrations such as Tessitura. Landslide Creative
• Worth including if accessibility + museum CMS/integration expertise + pragmatic execution matter more than a highly experimental design.
• Oomph — excellent national contender

• Their recent work for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is particularly impressive from a UX perspective: audience research, journey mapping, information architecture, accessibility, design systems and content infrastructure. Oomph, Inc
• I'd seriously consider them even though they're not Chicago-based.

A Chicago wildcard

elbē interactive is worth knowing about if your project extends beyond the website into interactive museum experiences, installations, or physical/digital integration. They're Chicago-based and specifically oriented toward museum and interactive experiences.

If it were my RFP

I'd probably invite 5 firms:

• Purple Rock Scissors — proven Chicago museum website transformation
• Sandstorm — Chicago UX/strategy depth
• AREA 17 — ambitious digital/collection experience
• Cuberis — museum-specific technical expertise
• Oomph — strong contemporary cultural-institution UX/accessibility

Then I'd ask each to show one museum project where they personally solved the same problems you're facing, rather than letting them present their three prettiest websites.

The RFP should specifically test them on information architecture, visitor journey/visit planning, collections and exhibition content, accessibility, ticketing/membership/donations, search, CMS governance, analytics, and how they handle competing internal stakeholders. Those are much better predictors of success for a museum than visual design alone.

If you tell me which Chicago museum you are (or just its size/type—art, history, science, university, etc.) and roughly your budget and CMS, I can narrow this to 3 agencies and compare their relevant museum work, likely strengths/weaknesses, and what I'd ask each during interviews.

• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Studio Blue - 800 W Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
• Studio Blue - 20 W Hubbard St #3W, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Envoy Group, LLC (formerly Leviathan) - 211 N Clinton St #2S, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Bluestone & Associates - 5225 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Luci Creative - 6950 N Central Park Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712, United States
• Crux Creative - 1433 N Water St #400, Milwaukee, WI 53202, United States
• elbē interactive - 4410 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Interactive Design - 900 N Franklin St #304, Chicago, IL 60610, United States
• Futurehaus - 125 S Clark St Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Span - 650 W Lake St Ste 410, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Bark Design - 4330 N California Ave Store Front, Chicago, IL 60618, United States

Yes. For a Chicago museum, I’d prioritize agencies that understand visitor journeys, collections/content, ticketing, accessibility, institutional stakeholders, and the realities of museum CMSes—not just firms that make attractive marketing sites.

My shortlist would be:

1. Sandstorm Design — Probably one of the first Chicago firms I’d talk to. They emphasize UX research, usability testing, journey mapping, inclusive design, and complex web platforms. They also have direct cultural-institution experience; their work with the Oriental Institute involved a substantial UX/UI process and goals around exhibitions, events, membership, donations, and visits. Ancient Cultures Institute

sandstormdesign.com

2. Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — A particularly compelling choice if visitor usability and measurable outcomes are priorities. They redesigned the Field Museum's site, reporting an 87% increase in clicks from visit-related pages to ticketing on desktop and a 360% increase on mobile, among other improvements. Purple Rock Scissors

purplerockscissors.com

3. Studio Blue — Worth considering if you want a more design-led Chicago studio with deep experience in cultural and academic institutions. Their work spans museums and cultural organizations, with web experience, information architecture, and storytelling as part of the offering.

studiobluechicago.com

4. AREA 17 — A strong candidate if your museum has a large collection, complicated content architecture, or ambitious digital storytelling. They worked with the Art Institute of Chicago on its digital transformation, including collection discovery, audience-focused UX, visit planning, ticketing, and membership. AREA 17 Christophe da Silva

area17.com

5. Studio Blue — I'd put them on the RFP list particularly if the project needs to balance institutional brand, editorial content, and UX rather than being primarily a technical rebuild.
6. Cuberis — Not Chicago-local, but potentially a very good museum-specific contender. They explicitly specialize in museum websites and have worked with institutions including the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Saint Louis Art Museum. Their case studies emphasize usability studies, audience research, collection databases, membership, ticketing, and CMS usability. Cuberis

cuberis.com

One I'd investigate especially closely

Purple Rock Scissors vs. Sandstorm would be my first comparison. PRPL has unusually concrete evidence from a Chicago museum website redesign, while Sandstorm looks particularly strong if you want the agency to help with research, organizational alignment, accessibility, and UX strategy, not simply redesign the interface. Purple Rock Scissors

I'd also consider Fuzzy Math as a UX-strategy specialist if you're not yet sure what the website should become. They worked with the Field Museum on digital strategy and UX research, creating a framework for prioritizing digital initiatives across a complicated museum organization. Fuzzy Math

What I'd ask in the RFP

Don't just ask agencies to show "museum websites." Ask them to demonstrate:

• How they conduct visitor research and usability testing before designing.
• How they handle the tension between trip planning and deep scholarly/collection content.
• How they've redesigned information architecture for thousands of pages.
• Their approach to accessibility/WCAG 2.2 AA.
• Experience integrating ticketing, CRM, membership, events, collections databases, and calendars.
• How they work with curatorial, education, visitor services, development, marketing, and IT stakeholders.
• What they do to make the CMS genuinely manageable for museum staff.
• How they measure success after launch—not just whether the new site looks better.

For context, the Field Museum's redesign is a particularly good benchmark: its project involved restructuring more than 2,000 pages around visitor needs while also supporting education, events, science content, and accessibility. Joshua Hurtado

If you tell me what kind of museum you run, approximate website budget, CMS (Drupal/WordPress/etc.), and whether you need strategy + UX + development or UX only, I can narrow this to a 3–5 agency shortlist and compare them on museum experience, UX depth, Chicago presence, likely fit, and red flags.

For a Chicago museum, I’d prioritize agencies that understand museum-specific audience journeys, complex stakeholder environments, accessibility, collections/content, ticketing, membership, and mission—not just conventional corporate web design.

My shortlist

1. Purple Rock Scissors — especially strong Chicago/museum fit
   • They redesigned the Field Museum website and report substantial UX improvements: 87% more clicks from visit pages to ticketing on desktop, 360% more on mobile, and a 47% reduction in reliance on homepage search. www.purplerockscissors.comwww.studioblue.usarea17.comwww.fastspot.com
   • I'd put them near the top if your project is a full website redesign with measurable visitor/ticketing goals.

2. Fuzzy Math — strongest for UX research/strategy
   • Another particularly relevant Chicago option: Fuzzy Math has worked with the Field Museum on digital strategy, UX research, and a framework for prioritizing digital initiatives across siloed museum departments. fuzzymath.com
   • I'd consider them if the hard part is figuring out what the website should do before designing it, rather than simply executing a visual redesign.

3. Studio Blue — excellent cultural-institution DNA
   • Chicago-based and explicitly focused on museums, universities and public-serving organizations. Their interactive work includes the Art Institute of Chicago, with website strategy, information architecture and mobile-oriented experiences. www.studioblue.us
   • A good candidate if you want a smaller, design-led Chicago studio with deep cultural-sector familiarity.

4. Landslide Creative — museum-specialist
   • Their practice is specifically centered on museum/cultural websites, including audience prioritization, UX, accessibility, mobile-first design and integrations such as Tessitura. landslidecreative.com
   • Particularly worth considering if ticketing, membership, donations and CMS operations are major parts of the redesign.

5. Urban Insight — strong large-project option
   • They specialize in arts & culture websites and cover UX research, analytics, accessibility, collections/IIIF, ticketing, donations, DAMs and complex CMS implementations. Their portfolio includes The Broad. www.urbaninsight.com
   • I'd put them on the RFP list if you're dealing with a large institution and complicated technical ecosystem.

6. AREA 17 — ambitious digital/collections experience
   • They worked with the Art Institute of Chicago on a major digital transformation and rethinking its online collection as an exploratory experience. area17.com
   • More of a high-end digital experience/design choice if you're envisioning something substantially more ambitious than a conventional museum CMS redesign.

Two more I'd investigate

• Orbit Media Studios — Chicago-based, with cultural-sector work including Goodman Theatre and Chicago Museum Tours; particularly strong around content, SEO, accessibility and conversion-oriented UX. www.orbitmedia.com
• Fastspot — not Chicago-based, but they've spent 25+ years building websites for cultural institutions and explicitly understand museums' multiple audiences, governance and accessibility requirements. www.fastspot.com

If I were issuing an RFP, I'd probably invite 4–5 firms: Purple Rock Scissors, Fuzzy Math, Studio Blue, Landslide Creative, and Urban Insight. That gives you a useful spread between UX strategy, Chicago museum experience, design, and technical museum specialization.

One important distinction: I'd ask each agency to show two or three comparable museum projects and the actual research/IA artifacts behind them, not just polished screenshots. For your project, I'd want to see how they handle visitor planning, exhibitions/events, collections, membership/donations, accessibility, search, and the internal politics of getting curatorial/education/marketing/IT stakeholders aligned.

If you tell me which Chicago museum it is, roughly how large the site is, and whether you're replacing the CMS/ticketing too, I can narrow this to the 3 agencies I'd actually interview and compare their relevant case studies.

Yes. For a Chicago museum, I’d prioritize agencies that understand museum audiences, complex content/collections, accessibility, ticketing/membership, and internal stakeholder dynamics—not just firms that make attractive nonprofit websites.

My shortlist

1. Sandstorm Design — strong Chicago contender
   • Chicago-based and explicitly UX/research-led.
   • They have museum/cultural-sector experience; notably, Sandstorm worked with the Oriental Institute on a UX/UI-driven digital experience designed to encourage exhibitions, events, donations, membership, and visits. isac.uchicago.edu
   • Best if: you want rigorous UX research and strategy alongside a full website redesign.

2. Clique Studios — best for a large, complex redesign
   • Their offering includes UX research, interviews, information architecture, usability testing, accessibility and design systems.
   • Best if: the museum has a complicated CMS, lots of departments/content, or significant technical integration work.

3. Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — especially compelling museum precedent
   • They redesigned the Field Museum's website and report substantial improvements in navigation and ticketing journeys: including a 47% reduction in reliance on homepage search and large increases in clicks to ticketing. www.purplerockscissors.com
   • Their separate Field Museum work also included UX research and digital-product strategy. fuzzymath.com
   • Best if: you want a partner with very direct Chicago-museum website experience.

4. AREA 17 — look closely if collections/content are central
   • They transformed the Art Institute of Chicago's digital experience, including collection discovery, visitor/ticketing/member pathways, accessibility, and a custom publishing platform. area17.com
   • Best if: your site needs to make a large collection or substantial scholarship/content genuinely discoverable rather than simply redesigning the homepage.

5. Cuberis — museum-specialist option
   • This is one of the more explicitly museum-focused agencies I've found. Their portfolio includes the Illinois Holocaust Museum, Saint Louis Art Museum and Telfair Museums, and they emphasize usability studies, museum collections, integrations and staff CMS training. cuberis.com
   • Best if: you want a firm that already understands museum-specific website problems rather than educating a general digital agency about them.

6. Landslide Creative — good museum-focused alternative
   • Their process specifically addresses the competing needs of visitors, donors, educators, members, volunteers and researchers, with audience prioritization, user journeys, information architecture and accessibility built into the process. landslidecreative.com
   • Best if: your biggest challenge is organizing a sprawling museum website and making it useful to very different audiences.

One I would consider for UX research specifically

Selinda Research Associates is worth knowing about even though I wouldn't necessarily hire them as the website developer. They're a Chicago museum-research consultancy specializing in visitor research and evaluation.

If your institution has lots of stakeholder disagreement about what the website should do, bringing in a research/evaluation specialist—or requiring the agency to demonstrate serious user research—could be particularly valuable.

How I'd narrow it

If this were my RFP, I'd invite 4–5 firms rather than choosing purely from portfolios: PRPL, Sandstorm, AREA 17, Cuberis, and Landslide. I'd ask each to show one museum project where they changed the information architecture based on user research, not just a visually impressive redesign.

And I'd make the RFP explicitly require: user research → audience segmentation → information architecture → usability testing → accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA) → CMS/editorial workflow → analytics/KPIs → post-launch optimization. That's much more likely to produce a genuinely better museum website than a conventional "website redesign" brief.

For a Chicago museum, I’d prioritize agencies that can demonstrate museum-specific UX work, not just attractive nonprofit websites. Based on current portfolios, these are the firms I’d put on your shortlist:

1. Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — my first call
   • They redesigned the Field Museum website, including a major information-architecture overhaul, visitor journey work, personas, card sorting, and user testing. The redesign reportedly increased clicks to ticketing by 87% on desktop and 360% on mobile. files.purplerockscissors.comwww.purplerockscissors.com
   • Particularly compelling if your priorities are visit planning, navigation, collections/learning content, membership, and conversion.
   • This is unusually close to the problem you're describing.

2. Bluecadet — excellent for a museum with a strong brand/storytelling component
   • They worked on the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago website renovation, balancing the museum's visual identity with usability and its collections/programming. www.bluecadet.com
   • I'd consider them especially seriously if the site needs to feel like an extension of the museum's physical experience rather than a conventional institutional website.

3. Cuberis — strong museum-specialist option
   • Their entire positioning is around museum websites, and their client experience includes the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center and Saint Louis Art Museum.
   • They explicitly offer usability studies before redesign and have experience with museum collection databases, ticketing/CRM integrations, WordPress, and staff training. cuberis.com
   • Worth a close look if your museum has complicated collections/content systems behind the public site.

4. Made by Speak — strong UX-research orientation
   • Their Illinois Holocaust Museum project involved extensive UX research and user-journey work before the redesign. www.madebyspeak.com
   • I'd shortlist them if you're trying to solve a fundamental "what do our audiences actually need from this site?" problem rather than simply redesigning the visual layer.

5. Blix — especially interesting for arts/culture
   • Blix focuses specifically on arts and cultural organizations and has worked with organizations including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
   • Their platform explicitly addresses cultural-sector problems such as complex calendars, exhibitions/performances, content management, and Tessitura integrations. blix.co
   • More naturally suited to performing arts, but worth considering depending on your museum's technology stack and content complexity.

One more route I'd consider

If you want UX expertise rather than a giant end-to-end agency, there are excellent independent/smaller practitioners with museum experience. For example, Eva Philips' portfolio includes the Adler Planetarium redesign, covering stakeholder interviews, UX workshops, journey mapping, IA, wireframes, user testing, and CMS training. www.evaphilips.com

How I'd narrow this to 3

I'd probably invite PRPL, Bluecadet, and Cuberis to an initial conversation.

One thing I'd insist on in the RFP: don't let agencies show you only polished final designs. Ask each one to walk you through how they conducted research, what they learned from museum visitors, how they resolved competing departmental requirements, and what changed because of user testing. The Field Museum work is a good benchmark because it demonstrates measurable behavioral outcomes rather than just screenshots. files.purplerockscissors.comwww.purplerockscissors.com

If you tell me which Chicago museum you are (or just your museum type—art, history, science, children's, etc.), your approximate budget, and whether you need strategy + UX + design + development or UX only, I can narrow this to a much more targeted 3–5 agency shortlist and compare their relevant museum projects, likely fit, and potential weaknesses.

For a Chicago museum website renovation, I’d prioritize agencies that understand museum visitor journeys (planning a visit, ticketing, accessibility, collections, education, membership, donations) rather than a general web-design shop. These are firms I’d put on a shortlist:

Strong museum/cultural UX specialists

Bluecadet
A strong fit if you want a sophisticated cultural experience rather than just a marketing site. They’ve worked with Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago on a website renovation, focusing on translating institutional identity into an intuitive digital experience. www.bluecadet.com
Best for: major museums, collections storytelling, immersive digital experiences, complex content.

Cuberis
A museum-focused digital agency with deep experience in museum CMS builds, collections integrations, accessibility, and audience engagement. cuberis.comwww.evaphilips.com
Best for: museums that need a durable platform, staff-friendly CMS, collections/event integrations.

Carney
Has cultural-sector experience including museum website redesigns emphasizing UX, accessibility, SEO, and content strategy. carney.co
Best for: institutions balancing storytelling with measurable growth goals.

Chicago-area teams with relevant museum experience

Purple Rock Scissors
Worth considering because they redesigned the website for Field Museum, including information architecture, visitor pathways, and ticketing-related improvements. www.purplerockscissors.comwww.evaphilips.com
Best for: Chicago museums needing a local partner familiar with large cultural institutions.

Eva Philips
An independent UX practitioner with museum experience, including the Adler Planetarium website redesign involving UX audits, stakeholder interviews, journey mapping, information architecture, wireframes, and usability work. www.evaphilips.com
Best for: UX strategy/discovery before selecting a larger build partner.

Orbit Media Studios
A Chicago firm with experience on cultural and visitor-focused websites, including museum-related projects. www.orbitmedia.com
Best for: content-heavy sites where SEO, WordPress expertise, and maintainability matter.

How I’d narrow the field

For a museum RFP, I’d ask each candidate to show:

• 2–3 museum or cultural institution case studies (not just “arts” clients)
• Their approach to visitor research and usability testing
• Examples of improving:
  • ticket purchase flows
  • event calendars
  • collections discovery
  • accessibility (WCAG)
  • mobile visit planning
  • membership/donation conversion
• Who will actually do the UX work (senior strategists vs. junior production staff)

If this is a large Chicago institution (Field/MCA/Art Institute scale), I’d start conversations with Bluecadet, Purple Rock Scissors, and Cuberis. If it’s a smaller museum with limited internal digital staff, I’d lean toward Cuberis or a UX-led engagement with Eva Philips first. www.evaphilips.com

I can also help you build a shortlist by museum type (art, science, history, children’s, university) and approximate budget tier.

For a Chicago museum website renovation, I’d put a fairly short list together. The strongest candidates are agencies/consultancies that understand the peculiar combination of public-facing UX, collections and exhibitions, event/visit planning, accessibility, editorial content, and lots of internal stakeholders.

My shortlist

1. Next/Now — worth considering if you want a more experiential, innovative digital presence. They’re Chicago-based and focus on experience design and technology. I’d put them higher if the project extends beyond a conventional website into interactive visitor experiences.

2. Sandstorm Design — probably one of the better fits if UX research and usability are central to the project. They’re Chicago-based and emphasize user research, usability testing, journey mapping, accessibility, and UX strategy. They also have directly relevant cultural-sector experience: they worked with the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago on its Centennial digital experience, including a UX/UI process. www.sandstormdesign.com

Sandstorm Design

3. Bluecadet — my first call if you want a museum-specialist digital partner. Their work includes the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Princeton University Art Museum, Buffalo AKG, and other major cultural institutions. Their MCA project specifically involved collection discovery, information architecture, editorial templates, and user-centered storytelling—not simply visual redesign. www.bluecadet.com

Bluecadet

4. Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — especially compelling if visitor journeys, IA, and measurable outcomes are priorities. They redesigned the Field Museum website, including more than 2,000 pages, using personas, card sorting and user testing. Their published results include an 87% increase in clicks to ticketing from visit-related desktop pages and a 360% increase on mobile. files.purplerockscissors.com

Purple Rock Scissors

5. Studio Blue — an interesting smaller Chicago option if you want a more intimate design partner. They're particularly focused on cultural and academic institutions and do website strategy/design and information architecture. Their work includes the Art Institute of Chicago and other cultural organizations.

6. Spellerberg Associates — I'd seriously consider them for the strategy/UX side, particularly if your museum has complicated institutional politics or needs to rethink its overall digital strategy before jumping into design. They specialize specifically in cultural institutions and list MCA Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Terra Foundation, Hammer Museum, Warhol, and others among their clients. spellerberg.org

Spellerberg Associates

How I'd narrow it

One important distinction: don't evaluate these firms primarily on whether their portfolio looks beautiful. For a museum, I'd make the RFP heavily test their ability to handle information architecture, search/collections, exhibitions, events/calendar, ticketing, membership, accessibility, mobile visit planning, content governance, and stakeholder research.

I'd also ask each finalist to show one museum project where the UX was measurably improved, rather than just showing screenshots.

If you tell me which Chicago museum (or roughly its size/type) and your ballpark budget—e.g. <$100K, $100–250K, $250–500K, $500K+—I can narrow this to 3 agencies I'd actually invite to the RFP, including relevant case studies and why each fits.

Yes. For a Chicago museum, I’d put museum-specific digital experience ahead of a generic Chicago web agency. Based on current portfolios and case studies, these are the firms I’d shortlist:

1. Bluecadet — strongest overall fit
   • They redesigned the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago site, including collection discovery, search/filtering, editorial templates, and UX. www.bluecadet.comwww.purplerockscissors.comwww.sandstormdesign.comsukacreative.com
   • Their current practice explicitly combines UX research, product strategy, accessibility, CMS/editorial systems, and cultural-institution websites, alongside physical visitor-experience work. www.bluecadet.com
   • Particularly attractive if you want the website to feel like an extension of the museum experience rather than a conventional marketing site.
   • Bluecadet

2. Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — strongest evidence on measurable museum UX
   • They redesigned Chicago's Field Museum website, restructuring 2,000+ pages, using personas, card sorting and user testing. www.purplerockscissors.com
   • Their reported results are unusually concrete: 87% more clicks to ticketing from visit pages on desktop, 360% more on mobile, and 47% less reliance on homepage search. www.purplerockscissors.com
   • They also have museum work for the National Museum of Women in the Arts and Detroit Institute of Arts. www.purplerockscissors.com
   • The caveat: they're headquartered in Orlando, so I'd choose them for portfolio strength rather than Chicago proximity.
   • Purple Rock Scissors

3. Sandstorm Design — strongest Chicago-based UX specialist
   • They're headquartered in Chicago and describe UX research/usability testing as a core competency, with 5,000+ hours of UX research and usability studies. www.sandstormdesign.com
   • Their work is particularly oriented toward purpose-driven organizations and complex, content-heavy digital experiences. www.sandstormdesign.com
   • I'd seriously consider them if your biggest problems are information architecture, accessibility, research, content organization, and getting lots of internal stakeholders aligned.
   • Sandstorm Design

4. Suka Creative — strong museum-specific alternative
   • Their Tenement Museum redesign is a particularly relevant case: audience research, staff interviews, personas, user flows, wireframes, usability testing, mobile-first design, ticketing and fundraising integrations. sukacreative.com
   • They explicitly serve nonprofit/cultural institutions and have a mature UX-to-development process. sukacreative.com
   • Good choice if you want UX + content strategy + brand/visual design, rather than UX in isolation.
   • Suka Creative

5. Cuberis — worth an RFP if WordPress is important
   • They're unusually focused on museum websites and specialize in museum-optimized WordPress platforms, collections, memberships, donations and integrations. cuberis.com
   • They have experience with institutions including the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Saint Louis Art Museum.
   • Not Chicago-based, but potentially a very good practical choice if the project is CMS-heavy and operationally complex.
   • Cuberis

My shortlist

If I were running your RFP, I'd probably invite Bluecadet, PRPL, Sandstorm, and Suka to pitch.

I'd differentiate them this way:

One important point: don't evaluate these agencies primarily on how attractive their portfolio screenshots are. For a museum, I'd make the RFP heavily weighted toward audience research, information architecture, ticketing/visit planning, collections discovery, accessibility, events, membership/donations, CMS governance, and the ability to reconcile the needs of visitors, educators, members, donors and staff.

If you tell me what kind of Chicago museum you are (art/history/science/etc.), approximate budget, and whether you're staying on WordPress/Drupal/Tessitura/etc., I can narrow this to the 3 agencies I'd actually interview and explain why.

For a Chicago museum website redesign, I’d prioritize agencies that understand museum-specific problems—multiple audiences, collections/exhibitions, ticketing and membership, accessibility, institutional stakeholders, and often complicated CMS/CRM integrations—rather than a generic UX shop.

My shortlist would be:

1. Sandstorm Design — strongest Chicago UX-oriented option
   • Chicago-based and explicitly research/UX driven.
   • Emphasizes usability testing, journey mapping, inclusive design, and ongoing optimization.
   • Particularly interesting if the project involves organizational change as well as a visual redesign.

2. Studio Blue — excellent cultural-institution fit
   • Specializes in mission-driven organizations, including museums and academic institutions.
   • Their work includes web experience, information architecture, and digital storytelling.
   • A good choice if your museum has complex content and many internal stakeholders.

3. Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — very compelling if you want demonstrated museum results
   • They redesigned the Field Museum website and report substantial UX improvements: 87% more clicks to ticketing from visit pages on desktop, 47% less reliance on homepage search, and 360% more ticketing clicks on mobile. www.purplerockscissors.com
   • That's unusually relevant evidence for a museum trying to improve the actual visitor journey rather than just refresh its look.

4. Fuzzy Math — best if strategy/research is the hard part
   • Their Field Museum engagement focused on digital strategy, UX research, organizational silos, legacy systems, and creating an actionable digital roadmap. fuzzymath.com
   • I'd consider them especially if you're still figuring out what the new site needs to accomplish before choosing the design.

5. Luci Creative — best for museum/visitor-experience thinking
   • Chicago-area firm with deep museum and cultural-experience expertise, including Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago Children's Museum, and First Division Museum. www.tronviggroup.com
   • More experience-design oriented than a conventional website UX agency, so particularly attractive if the website needs to connect with the physical visitor experience.

6. Futurehaus — good smaller-studio alternative
   • Chicago design/technology studio working with mission-driven and cultural organizations, covering website strategy, UX/UI, content architecture, and development.
   • Worth considering if you want a relatively integrated strategy/design/technology partner.

One wildcard I'd seriously investigate

Spellerberg Associates isn't the typical large agency, but its specialization is almost exactly your problem: cultural-sector digital strategy. Its principal has worked with institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Terra Foundation, Andy Warhol Museum, and Museum of Contemporary Photography, and the firm works across strategy, UX, CMS, and implementation. spellerberg.org

How I'd narrow this to an RFP

I'd probably invite 4 firms:

• Sandstorm — UX/research + Chicago
• Purple Rock Scissors — proven museum website outcomes
• Studio Blue — cultural-sector fluency
• Spellerberg or Fuzzy Math — deep digital strategy

And I'd make the RFP require each agency to show 2–3 museum/cultural projects, specifically demonstrating:

• audience research and usability testing
• information architecture for exhibitions/collections/programs
• ticketing, membership and donation journeys
• accessibility/WCAG approach
• CMS governance for nontechnical museum staff
• integrations with your ticketing/CRM/collections systems
• measurable outcomes after launch

One important distinction: don't let an agency win simply by showing you beautiful museum websites. Ask them to demonstrate how they discovered what visitors were struggling with and what changed in measurable terms.

If you tell me which Chicago museum it is, approximate budget (e.g. $50–100k vs. $200k+), and whether you need design only or design + development, I can narrow this to the 3 agencies I'd actually interview, with relevant case studies and contact links.

Yes. For a Chicago museum website redesign where UX for cultural audiences is the priority, I’d put these agencies on the shortlist:

1. Sandstorm Design — probably my first Chicago call. They emphasize UX research, usability testing, journey mapping, inclusive design, and large organizational websites. They also have direct cultural-institution experience; notably, they worked with the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute on a UX/UI-driven digital experience. isac.uchicago.edu

Sandstorm Design

2. Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — particularly compelling because they redesigned the Field Museum's website. Their case study reports substantial improvements in navigation and clicks to ticketing, including a 47% reduction in reliance on homepage search and a 360% increase in mobile clicks to ticketing. www.purplerockscissors.com

Purple Rock Scissors

3. Cuberis — I'd strongly consider them if your site has complicated collections, education content, memberships, ticketing, or CMS requirements. They specialize specifically in museum websites and cite work for the Illinois Holocaust Museum, Saint Louis Art Museum, and other cultural institutions, including usability studies before redesign. cuberis.com

Cuberis

4. Studio Blue — a good Chicago option if you want a studio with deep cultural/academic design experience rather than a conventional digital-marketing agency. Their work includes museums and cultural organizations, with website strategy, information architecture, and digital experiences.

5. Span — worth a look if the project has a significant brand + website component. Their cultural portfolio includes the Intuit Art Museum and Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

6. Futurehaus — interesting for a museum that needs storytelling, UX, content architecture, and technology handled together. They position themselves specifically around mission-driven organizations and cultural institutions.

One non-Chicago agency I'd absolutely interview

Oomph has an unusually strong museum UX case study with the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. They tackled information architecture, visitor journeys, accessibility, content systems, and design—not merely a visual redesign. Their approach included user research and TreeJack testing before visual design, which is exactly the kind of UX rigor I'd want in an RFP. www.oomphinc.com
Oomph

My shortlist

If I were running the selection process, I'd probably invite Sandstorm, Purple Rock Scissors, Cuberis, and Oomph to pitch.

I'd evaluate them less on portfolio aesthetics and more on whether they can demonstrate:

• Actual visitor research before designing
• Strong information architecture for exhibitions, events, collections, education, and visiting
• Mobile-first trip planning and ticketing UX
• Accessibility/WCAG expertise
• Membership and donation conversion without making the site feel commercial
• Integration with your CMS, ticketing, CRM, and collections systems
• A sustainable content model your museum staff can actually maintain
• Evidence that they measure UX outcomes after launch

One especially important question for the pitches: “Show us how you would decide what belongs on our homepage and primary navigation before you show us any visual design.” That will tell you very quickly which firms are genuinely UX-led versus primarily web-design firms.

If you tell me which Chicago museum you're renovating, your CMS/ticketing stack, and rough budget, I can narrow this to 3 agencies and compare their relevant museum projects and likely fit.

Yes. For a Chicago museum website renovation, I’d prioritize agencies that can demonstrate actual museum/cultural UX work—not just general nonprofit web design.

My shortlist

1. Sandstorm Design — probably my first call for a traditional website redesign. They’re Chicago-based and emphasize UX research, usability testing, journey mapping, information architecture, accessibility, and enterprise web development. They also have cultural/mission-driven experience; their work with the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute involved a substantial UX and creative process. isac.uchicago.edu

Sandstorm Design

2. Next/Now — worth considering if the project extends beyond the website into visitor experience, interactive storytelling, or digital interpretation. They're Chicago-based and specialize in experience design combining strategy, creative, and technology.

3. Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — especially compelling because they actually redesigned the Field Museum's website. Their work included information architecture, personas, card sorting, user testing, accessibility, and visit-planning UX. The reported results are unusually concrete: a 47% decrease in reliance on homepage search and an 87% increase in clicks to ticketing from desktop visit pages. files.purplerockscissors.com

PRPL Field Museum case study

4. Bluecadet — a particularly interesting choice if your museum wants the website to feel like an extension of the physical museum experience, rather than simply a marketing site. They redesigned the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago's site, explicitly balancing the museum's visual identity with "effortless usability." www.bluecadet.com

Bluecadet

5. Cuberis — I'd put them on the RFP list if you have complicated museum infrastructure behind the site—collections databases, ticketing, memberships, CRM, WordPress, etc. They specialize in museum websites and specifically cite work with the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Saint Louis Art Museum, including usability studies and integrations with museum systems. cuberis.com

Cuberis

6. Eva Philips — if you're open to a smaller specialist rather than a large agency, this is an intriguing option. She led the UX/content work for the Adler Planetarium website redesign, including stakeholder interviews, UX workshops, journey mapping, information architecture, wireframes, user testing, and CMS training. www.evaphilips.com

If I were narrowing it to three

I'd interview Sandstorm, PRPL, and Bluecadet first.

They represent three slightly different approaches:

One thing I'd strongly build into the RFP: require the finalists to show their research artifacts and decision-making process, not just polished screenshots. Ask to see examples of stakeholder interviews, visitor research, card sorting/tree testing, usability testing, accessibility work, information architecture, and how they handled competing audiences (visitors, members, donors, educators, researchers, etc.).

If you tell me which Chicago museum and roughly your budget/scale (e.g. $100–250k vs. $500k+), I can narrow this to 3–5 agencies that are realistically appropriate and compare their museum portfolios, likely strengths, and red flags.

For a Chicago museum website renovation, I’d prioritize agencies that understand visitor journeys, collections/exhibitions content, ticketing or membership flows, accessibility, and the realities of museum governance—not just general web design. A few firms worth considering:

Strong museum-specific fits

Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL)
A very strong match if your priority is museum UX and audience conversion. They redesigned the Field Museum website, focusing on information architecture, visit planning, personas, and user testing. Their case study reports improvements around ticketing journeys, navigation, and engagement. files.purplerockscissors.comwww.purplerockscissors.com
Best for: large museums, complex content ecosystems, improving “plan your visit” experiences.

Bluecadet
A strong cultural-sector specialist. They worked on the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago website, including collection exploration, storytelling templates, and balancing a distinctive museum brand with usability. www.bluecadet.comwww.purplerockscissors.com
Best for: art museums, collection-driven sites, digital storytelling.

Cuberis
A museum-focused digital agency that specializes in museum websites, collections, memberships, and content platforms. cuberis.comwww.purplerockscissors.com
Best for: institutions that need a long-term CMS partner and staff-friendly publishing workflows.

Chicago-based agencies to put on your shortlist

Sandstorm Design
Chicago-based agency with UX strategy, accessibility, and mission-driven organization experience. They may be a good fit if your museum needs broader digital strategy, governance, and inclusive design—not only a visual redesign.

Studio Blue
A Chicago studio with cultural and academic institution experience, including work connected to museum and university audiences.
Best for: institutions where brand expression, editorial design, and digital storytelling matter.

Bark Design
A Chicago studio with museum/cultural organization experience and capabilities spanning UX, information architecture, CMS, and web development.
Best for: smaller or mid-sized museums wanting a hands-on partner.

Also worth a look

• Eva Philips — worked on the Adler Planetarium website redesign, including UX audits, user journeys, IA, wireframes, and testing. www.evaphilips.com Good if you want a more specialized UX-led engagement.
• Luci Creative — more focused on visitor experience, exhibits, and physical/digital interpretation than purely websites.

How I’d narrow the field

For an RFP, I’d probably invite 4–6 firms and ask them to specifically address:

1. Museum UX evidence
   • Show 2–3 museum/cultural websites they redesigned.
   • Explain what research informed the IA and navigation.

2. Visitor conversion
   • How will they improve ticket purchases, event discovery, membership, donations, and trip planning?

3. Collections and storytelling
   • How will they handle thousands of objects, exhibitions, archives, and educational resources?

4. Internal usability
   • Ask museum staff to update the site themselves after launch.

5. Accessibility
   • Require WCAG-focused design and testing, not just a compliance statement.

If this is a major Chicago museum (Field/MCA/Art Institute scale), I’d start with PRPL, Bluecadet, and Cuberis. If it’s a smaller museum with a tighter team, I’d look closely at Bark, Sandstorm, or Studio Blue. www.purplerockscissors.com

For a Chicago museum, I’d prioritize agencies that understand museum-specific audience journeys, collections/content complexity, accessibility, ticketing/membership, and institutional stakeholder management—not just firms that happen to make attractive websites.

My shortlist

1. Sandstorm Design — strongest Chicago UX-oriented option
   • Chicago-based and explicitly UX/research driven.
   • Their process includes usability testing, personas, journey mapping, and metrics.
   • They also have experience with mission-led organizations and complex institutional websites.
   • I'd put them high on the RFP list if the project is primarily a website/digital-experience redesign.

2. Purple Rock Scissors (PRPL) — particularly strong museum precedent
   • They redesigned the Field Museum's website, including information architecture, visitor journeys, membership and educational resources.
   • The results are unusually concrete: 87% more clicks to ticketing from visit pages on desktop, 360% more on mobile, and a 47% reduction in homepage reliance on search. files.purplerockscissors.comwww.purplerockscissors.com
   • This is probably the most directly relevant case study I'd want to discuss with a prospective agency.

3. Studio Blue — excellent cultural-sector sensibility
   • Chicago firm with a strong concentration in museums, universities and other cultural/mission-driven institutions.
   • I'd consider them especially if your redesign needs to balance editorial/content strategy, institutional identity and digital UX, rather than treating the website as a purely transactional product.

4. Cuberis — museum-specialist rather than Chicago-local
   • Their entire practice is heavily oriented toward museum websites.
   • They emphasize museum-specific UX, collections, memberships, programs and integrations, and have worked with institutions including the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Saint Louis Art Museum. cuberis.com
   • Worth including if museum-platform expertise matters more than having a Chicago office.

5. Landslide Creative — another museum-focused specialist
   • Their work specifically addresses museum information architecture, audience prioritization, accessibility, membership, donations and visit planning.
   • They also emphasize WCAG accessibility and staff-friendly CMS administration. landslidecreative.com
   • A good candidate if the museum has a large content ecosystem and lots of internal editors.

6. Speak — particularly interesting if ticketing/conversion is central
   • Focuses specifically on arts and cultural organizations, with website UX, ticket calendars, CRM integrations, membership, donations and mobile experiences.
   • I'd investigate them if the redesign needs to improve the entire journey from "I'm interested" → "I'm planning a visit" → ticket purchase → membership/repeat visit. www.madebyspeak.com

One more option I'd investigate

Spellerberg Associates is a particularly interesting specialist consultancy. Its founder has extensive museum digital/arts-administration experience, including work with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and other major cultural institutions. Their offering spans UX, digital strategy, CMS and technical implementation. spellerberg.org

How I'd narrow this down

If I were running your selection process, I'd probably invite PRPL, Sandstorm, Landslide and Cuberis to an initial conversation, with Studio Blue or Spellerberg as an alternative depending on whether you want a more design/editorial or strategic/consultative partner.

And I would not choose based primarily on visual portfolio. Ask each agency to show you:

• a museum website where they improved visit planning and ticket conversion
• their actual user-research and IA process
• how they handle collections + exhibitions + events + education + membership without creating an impossible navigation system
• accessibility/user testing with actual museum audiences
• how they resolve conflicts among curatorial, education, marketing, development and visitor-services stakeholders
• experience integrating Tessitura, Altru, Blackbaud, ticketing, CRM and collection systems
• what the museum team can change itself after launch
• measurable results from comparable projects

The Field Museum/PRPL case is especially worth using as a benchmark because it gives you actual UX outcomes rather than simply saying "we redesigned a museum website." files.purplerockscissors.comwww.purplerockscissors.com

If you tell me which Chicago museum you are (or roughly your size, CMS, and budget range), I can narrow this to 3–5 agencies and compare their relevant museum work, strengths, likely fit, and questions to ask in the RFP.

For a Chicago museum website renovation, I’d put three firms at the top of the shortlist, with a couple of strong alternates depending on what you need the site to accomplish.

My shortlist

1. PRPL / Purple Rock Scissors — probably my first call for a museum where visitor UX, information architecture, and measurable outcomes are priorities. They redesigned the Field Museum website, using personas, card sorting and user testing to restructure navigation and visitor journeys. Their published results include an 87% increase in clicks from visit-related pages to ticketing on desktop and 360% on mobile. files.purplerockscissors.com

2. Bluecadet — especially compelling if your museum wants a site that feels distinctively cultural rather than like a conventional nonprofit website. They redesigned the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago's site, explicitly balancing the museum's visual identity with usability and integrating the online experience with the physical museum experience. www.bluecadet.com

3. Sandstorm Design — a good Chicago-based option if you want research-heavy UX plus strategy, accessibility, and development. Their positioning emphasizes usability testing, journey mapping, inclusive design and UX strategy; they also have experience with cultural/mission-driven organizations. Sandstorm Design

Also worth interviewing

• Speak — particularly relevant if your project involves audience research and visitor journeys. They worked with the Illinois Holocaust Museum on UX research around ticket purchasing and membership, then used that research to inform the redesign. www.madebyspeak.com
• Studio Blue — a more design-led Chicago option with substantial cultural-institution experience, including the Art Institute of Chicago, and expertise in information architecture and digital experiences. Studio Blue
• Cuberis — worth considering if the site will have a large collection, complex CMS, membership/ticketing integrations, or a relatively small internal web team. Their museum practice is unusually specialized, with experience integrating collection databases and third-party systems. cuberis.com
• Landslide Creative — another museum-specialist option. Their approach explicitly prioritizes audience journeys, IA, accessibility and the needs of multiple museum constituencies (visitors, donors, educators, members, researchers, etc.). landslidecreative.com

How I'd narrow it down

If I were running the RFP, I'd probably invite PRPL, Bluecadet, and Sandstorm to pitch.

I'd evaluate them less on visual comps and more on whether they can demonstrate:

• Real visitor research, not just stakeholder interviews
• Excellent visit-planning UX: hours, tickets, exhibitions, directions, accessibility, parking, events
• A coherent IA for collections + exhibitions + programs + learning resources
• Mobile-first design
• Accessibility baked into research/design rather than checked at the end
• Integration with your ticketing, membership, CRM and collection systems
• A CMS your staff can actually maintain
• Evidence that they've improved conversion/visitor behavior, not merely produced a prettier site

One particularly important distinction: Bluecadet is probably the strongest choice if the museum's digital experience needs to be highly expressive and experiential; PRPL if you're looking for rigorous UX optimization; Sandstorm if you want a strategic/research-oriented partner that can carry the project through implementation.

If you tell me which Chicago museum, your approximate budget, CMS/ticketing system, and whether you're looking for strategy-only or full redesign/development, I can narrow this to 3–5 agencies and compare their relevant museum projects, strengths, and likely fit.