When the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center asked Digital Scientists to design their new website to help promote their cutting-edge exhibitions and drive membership, we were thrilled to donate our services. After all, the Contemporary has been at the forefront of the Atlanta art scene for over 25 years.
Our marketing team immediately framed the project around an Art Meets Commerce point of view. Our design team relished the chance to show off their creative skills. The development team couldn’t wait to introduce the Contemporary to the world of Web 2.0.
We chose to let the art speak for itself on the bold new homepage. Then we gave the rest of the site a minimal design treatment and layout. Pages were created to be both visually stimulating and user-friendly. Content was kept to a minimum and folded into interactive elements. This kept the look and feel of the pages clean, while putting important details within a user’s reach. Exhibitions, Programs, and Support are now prominently featured and more accessible. The addition of commenting and social tools, as well as a calendar, allows users to interact with site and share art, events and dates with their friends. Users can now follow the Contemporary on Twitter and Facebook straight from the site.
We built the site around a robust content management system (CMS) that allows the Contemporary to quickly and easily update their site as programs and exhibitions change. To save on editing time, we added PaperClip, a plugin, that automatically resizes uploaded images to fit the different pages. The “Add to calendar” feature found on the Exhibitions and Programming pages is an example of the custom functionality we developed. Additionally, jQuery makes the user experience a bit more enjoyable by providing image viewers, tooltips, hover effects, accordion sliders, and ajax functionality.
Whether it’s the sleek and modern look that makes the new site engaging for users or the easy-to-use management tools that lets the Contemporary focus on what matters most – art, of course! – the new site aims to please.
Visit the new Atlanta Contemporary Art Center website today. Check out the current exhibitions or just browse the new scenery.
