A digital door to the paper palace

The ETH Zurich Collection of Prints and Drawings is well aware that two dimensions are all it takes to open up entirely new worlds. The over 150-year-old Zurich institution boasts a collection of over 160 000 works of art on paper and welcomes the public to temporary exhibitions every year. To make sure the digital entrance to this paper world is on a par with the walk through its refined premises, we updated and modernized the homepage. In three steps, we made it clearer, lighter and more modern:

https://gs.ethz.ch/

Step 1: Rethinking the user journey 

We restructured the sitemap using wireframes and rebuilt the menu to make the information on the website more accessible.

Step 2: Refining the visual elements

We upgraded the big slider in the header by giving it a video feature and created new automized teaser elements for the pages Blog, Agenda & News.

Step 3: Framing the artwork

The new layout then had to be embedded into the current Wordpress CMS. It's lucky we felt right at home in the existing design. Because it's our own work. When the Collections and Archives celebrated their 150 year anniversary back in 2017, we did a rebranding for them. Including:

• A logo: with a tilted line inspired by an opening archive door.
• Typography: reminiscent of the grand tradition of Swiss graphic design in its boldness.
• Design: with a clear structure, a calm color palette and a lot of white space.
• Exhibition communication: with a template for flyers, posters, ads and screens allowing the brand to remain distinguishable across a variety of different exhibition styles, while granting the exhibition topic enough space.
• Color concept: In order for the subtle drawings to stick out in the poster jungle out there, we paired them with a restricted palette of color layers.