Design Challenge and Design Ideas

The design challenge was to position Business to Arts as a leader in private arts investment, using a visual language that would appeal to both arts and business audiences.

Business to Arts’ primary goal is to get private sector companies to invest in the arts to strengthen the arts sector. Having operated in Ireland for over 30 years, research showed that many target audiences struggled to understand what they do.

Our brief was to create a website that would position BtoA as the best partner to work with for a corporate arts investment consultancy, and to make it immediately clear to both arts organisations and businesses what they do.

Secondary goals for the website were to show the impact of their work and increase conversion rates on inbound leads and membership applications.

How the brief was fulfilled

VISUAL DESIGN
The site is distinguished by its use of shape and typography. Their logo inspired the shapes used to house photography and promotes the concept of the intersection. Use of short, clear statements in headers maximises impact and delivery of their message. The website visual language is bold, clear, and contemporary, appealing to both Arts and Business.

A simple, flexible, modular system of content blocks was created, allowing any page to look fantastic. Consuming information quickly on the website was a priority, so information architecture and layouts were simple and clean.

A minimal palette of cool greys, whites and navy, combined with pops of neon pink and engaging images, was used to strike the right balance between the corporate and the arts world.

To encourage more membership conversions, snippets of members-only content are shown to all users.

Responsive design was used to ensure that users regardless of their device size would have a great experience using the website. The navigation is simple and easy to find information.

SUSTAINABILITY
The design solution sought to reduce the website’s carbon footprint. A system body font was chosen, along with small image sizes to reduce file size, navy and grey background colours, to reduce power required on OLED displays. The website is hosted on 100% renewal energy. The result is the website has lower carbon emissions than over 90% of websites when tested with the WebsiteCarbon.com calculator.

UNIVERSAL DESIGN
The project incorporated universal design principles. The website was designed in accordance with WCAG 2.1 Level AA, to ensure the site is easy to access using assistive technologies.

All colours meet minimum contrast ratios, text is large and legible, and interactive elements are used to not disrupt screen readers. The resulting website scores 100% for accessibility when tested using Google Lighthouse.

The website successfully meets the clients brief, while also delivering design quality, usability, accessibility, and sustainability.