smithsonian institution
some good news from washington
refreshing a legacy
The previous websites we created for the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage served them well in their mission to preserve and document Americana and World Culture. But after nearly a decade of service, it was high time for a redesign.
The Center, along with the Folklife Festival it hosts on the National Mall each summer, and its record label Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, had all outgrown their old sites and needed to modernize.
Working closely with the Smithsonian in-house web team, Visual Dialogue designed and developed three interrelated sites that feature the best practices of contemporary web design: responsive layouts for large monitors to smartphones, visually engaging scrolling pages, multimedia content, clear web fonts, and an easier to update modular system.
“At a time when living culture has a profound role to play in fostering mutual understanding, I am especially proud that we are evolving globally with these new digital platforms and collaborating with partners to bring these stories of cultural diversity to light.”– Michael Atwood Mason, Director of the Center
As always, we optimized the site for an easier scrolling experience on mobile, with readable font sizes and maximized imagery.
In the redesign process, we also recognized the lack of effective branding for the three sites, so we developed a consistent logo system.
the roots of this root
With a dedication to telling local and global cultural stories, the Smithsonian Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage sought to create an online exhibition to celebrate American ginseng and those growers, cultivators, and enthusiasts who work with it. Though a highly prized and valuable traditional medicine, many in the US are unaware of the stories and origins of this “green gold.”
Visual Dialogue worked with the Folklife team to organize the Ginseng stories into an easy-to-navigate scrolling site where viewers can drill down into the accounts according to expertise, location, and community. Readers can even submit their own experiences to the site to tell their own ginseng stories.
creating cohesive microsites
The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, which produces the annual Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC wanted to mark the 50th anniversary of the Festival with an online exhibition. This exhibition tells the story of the Festival through significant objects selected to represent the breadth and depth of their programs.
Visual Dialogue worked closely with Festival Director Sabrina Motley and Curator Erin Younger to develop a visually engaging, scrolling, and responsive site for the exhibition. Upon landing on the microsite, an animation of the objects makes up the exhibition title, welcoming the viewer.
A grid of images allows users to quickly survey all of the objects. They can also browse by just scrolling down or search by category. Highlighted objects are shown with a large image and basic info, while more details about the maker and background story are revealed with a click. The system we created for the Storied Objects site also serves as a template for future online exhibitions.
