Noelle Wiedemer

Noelle Wiedemer is the talent behind Engaging Museums, a museum consultancy helping local and regional museums with collections management, exhibit research and design, and research into creative funding opportunities.

When Noelle came to me, it was as she was wrapping her career as a longtime Museum Studies professor at Buffalo State University. With more than 15 years of experience in her field, she had already worked with 20 museums throughout Western New York. She was ready to bet on herself and start her own business.

Noelle wanted a simple, fresh website that, in her words, would “feel like walking into a museum.”

Done and done. I absolutely love giving women business owners the website they deserve!

Kind words

“It was an amazing experience to work with Kristen. She took all of the stress out of building my website and gently lit a fire under my you-know-what when I needed it. She's one of the kindest people who is genuinely in your corner, cheering on your success the whole way. Thanks Kristen!”

Noelle Wiedemer, Owner
Engaging Museums Consulting

The web design process

Noelle designed her own logo and came prepared with a few colors that she liked. She knew the “look and feel” that she wanted.

If that’s all you’ve got to start with, don’t worry—you can get a great website. It’s a perfect starting point for design!

I picked Noelle’s brain about what she wanted the site to convey, then created a wording outline so she could fill in headings, paragraphs, and button labels. I gave her a list of my favorite stock photo websites so she could download some high-quality, free photos to use on the site.

From there, it was a blast to help Noelle turn her vision into reality!

I selected a headline font that aligned with the font she had used in her logo, as well as a simple, complimentary paragraph font.

To give the site the “museum” feel that Noelle was going for, I pared the design back to only the most fundamental elements and used white space liberally. White space can be an incredibly effective design tool—it gives the eye a place to rest and makes other elements, like photos and shapes, stand out even more.

With the white space guiding the design, I paired a bold headline font with offset black-and-white photos and delicate text outlines to create the impression that the visitor was looking at description cards in a museum display or art exhibit.

Noelle’s site includes an extensive portfolio detailing her work with museums throughout Western New York. Each portfolio page includes information about her work, links to media coverage and videos, and a project gallery sharing a behind-the-scenes look at how her work comes together.

For a little extra fun, I polished off the design with a few subtle animations and some CSS magic to create some fun button and menu effects.

Take a look at her new website home page!