About Koestler Arts
Koestler Arts is a UK based prison arts charity that encourages people in the criminal justice system to change their lives by participating in the arts, connecting them with mentors and providing an avenue to sell their work.
Through their website, exhibitions and events they share artwork with the public, so people have the opportunity to witness a diverse range of voices, stories and talent.
Working with partnerships across the UK, Koestler Arts deliver ambitious, innovative programmes that maximise resources and expertise across different areas UK’s criminal justice and secure systems.
The brief
Koestler Arts were looking to enhance their online brand identity, creating a website that enabled them to tell stories and communicate who they are effectively – covering all areas of the organisation, from awards and projects to art purchasing, fundraising and engagement.
Our team used WooCommerce and GiveWP to seamlessly integrate features from both platforms, not only on the shop, but across all areas of the website, improving buyer and donation journeys across the site.
Due to the nature of the work they do, Koestler Arts needed a website that would be able to display a variety of multimedia artworks, so ensuring that the artwork worked cohesively together on a page was key for the design.
Expanding brand styles
During the initial stages, we worked with Koestler Arts to expand their digital brand styles. This ensures that the brand is versatile enough to flow throughout a large, flexible, accessible website. We guided the Koestler team through reviewing their brand, font selection and colour palette to ensure both AA accessibility standards and design requirements were met.
We created a style that was clear, bright and modern, letting the artwork do the talking throughout the website. The module designs we used reflect the creative element of Koestler Arts’ work in the criminal justice system, while still providing a well optimised UX.
Bespoke gallery
One of the biggest challenges we faced while creating the Koestler website was creating a bespoke gallery system which would let them display both written and visual styles side by side, together on a page. We conceptualised a popup solution so users could view work in greater detail, as well as reading a concise introduction to the piece which works really well, while still looking visually appealing.
The majority of the Koestler Arts website focuses on the visual aspect, so being able to bring over all the existing work from their old website was really important. We worked with the team to be able to bring over lots of old multimedia content and their extensive archive of artwork from their old website – this ensured nothing was missed when it came to launch!
Easy to Use, Flexible, Future proof CMS
Our development team built a future proof WordPress CMS and optimised the admin area, so it was streamlined and easy for the Koestler Arts team to update. This allows them to easily add content, edit and customise the website instantly. All pages can be built up using tailored modules designed especially for the website, allowing a large level of customisation while also staying true to the overall style and design – as well as sticking to accessibility guidelines and responsive layouts.
The Koestler team have received training to aid their journey to discovering all of the features and capabilities of their new CMS, and we also continue to support the team with changes and updates to their new website to allow them to be able to evolve and adjust the site to their developing needs.
“It was a pleasure working with the friendly team at Splitpixel, who go the extra mile and are always on hand to help with website-related questions. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them, and look forward to continuing working with them in the future to continue building our digital presence.”
Fiona Curran
Koestler Arts Chief Executive
Let’s work together
We love working on website design and build projects with businesses and organisations across Yorkshire – from our head office in Huddersfield, to the de facto West Yorkshire capital Leeds, as well as Bradford, Harrogate, Halifax, Doncaster, Wakefield and beyond.
If you want website design and development services from a small web agency that understands your location and community, all while putting Yorkshire values of integrity, hard work and honest pricing at the heart of what they do, we want to hear from you! So why not contact us today?
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