The solution

Open the box, dump all the puzzle pieces on the carpet, and build according to the brand-new structure. And along the way, don't forget to get creative or check your data. In short - something like artistic research.

Every institution has to update itself regularly, and for an art institution that means also keeping up with the zeitgeist in terms of form. Some time ago, AVU rebooted its visual identity thanks to a successful concept by 20YY designers (Petr Bosák, Robert Jansa, and Adam Macháček). This redesign had to be transferred to all dimensions, and the digital one (the new website) was handled by the Brainz Disruptive studio under the direction of Štěpán Kleník. His chosen creative path could be described as artistic research – and a successful one, given the website was awarded first place in “UNIVERSITY” category of the Fenix Content Marketing Award.

Three columns of text with three simple statements, referring to the study opportunities, the scientific results of the academy, and the values presented to the public.

And what next?

From the beginning, it was our intention to intertwine the values of a major art institution into its presentation. The first and obvious one is the art itself. The aesthetic message is already carried to a large extent by the original redesign by 20YY designers, with a "heart emoji" font and a well-found degree of freshness and looseness. The front page of the site then features a looped student video awarded the Rector's Award (the videos will rotate over time of course).

Visitors will get another portion of art during a virtual visit to the individual studios. Each has its own video, each has its own textual presentation that is quite deliberately not pushed into the same template. Just as the individual studios are different, so are their presentations.

* Other (great) temporarily shelved ideas included environmental “installation” that would write the level of air pollution into the visuality of the site, or gender-neutral text version of the site (which is not commonplace in Czech).

VOX POPULI

The site was from the beginning oriented towards mobile-only presentation. Apart from the visual appeal of structuring the site into a single central column (on the backdrop of which there was the space on the desktop for other videos or visual elements), this concept carried a clear message that the presentation format should match the current technologies.

Then again, the nature of the institution serving the general public prevailed and the site was finally enriched with a standalone desktop version. Listening to the diverse voices of AVU's needs was essential to us, and the site underwent extensive testing and feedback to confirm its structural functionality. Based on "the voice of the people", a popular switch to dark mode, for example, was also added.

KUDOS

The AVU website was most of all a collaborative project of the broad Brainz team with several freelancers, but also with important input directly from AVU. The website won first prize in the “UNIVERSITY” category of prestigious Fenix Content Marketing Awards – hooray for all the “artistic researchers” and collaborators!