Explore. Engage. Discover.
The Discovery Building is a vibrant center at UW-Madison.
We created a dynamic and engaging website to match.
The Discovery Building, the nucleus of research, creativity and exploration at UW-Madison, was experiencing an identity crisis. Their online presence was tired, cluttered and confusing, while the building itself was sleek, modern and engaging. The Discovery Building is the LEED-certified home to two world-class research institutes and a main floor dedicated to exploration of science and creativity for the public, campus and researchers. The energy and excitement of the building is palpable, the research is cutting-edge and the staff and activities are warm and engaging.
A large portion of their audience uses the website to learn about upcoming events and ongoing programs, qualify the building for reserving their own space and ultimately decide to visit and explore in person. We partnered with their team to transform Discovery’s lackluster web presence and align it with its impressive physical presence.
Interactive Designs
An immersive experience about science & exploration
The Discovery Building design was created to invoke the qualities of the building itself: vibrant, modern, interactive, inviting. Imagery was chosen to highlight the collaboration and interactivity of the groups that reside in the building, as well as the robust science and exploration activities geared towards the community.
The Discovery Building website had a lot of content, targeted at many different types of users. It was critical to work and rework the navigation, sitemap and content flow in order for the most important information to be easy to find and for the user to feel a natural progression through the website.
Homepage
A homepage meant to bring you inside
The homepage design was created as an unfolding story. The Discovery Building has many layers and opportunities for involvement, so it was important to unveil these piece by piece as the user scrolls through the site. Vivid imagery, strategic use of color, subtle but sophisticated interactions and repetition of the mantra “Explore. Engage. Discover.,” helped support the story Discovery wanted to tell.
Features
Choose your own adventure
The events page is a catch-all for everything going on in the Discovery Building. The design challenge was to create an aesthetically pleasing, engaging and informative way to display information for several very different types of audiences. Through feature tiles, filters and a friendly at-a-glance calendar layout, we built a dynamic hub for a multitude of information.
Immerse yourself in science and creativity.
Design
Everything at your fingertips.
Mobile First
The audience for the Discovery Building includes students, scientists, families, community members, teachers and just about anyone who might want to rent space for an event. The mobile experience had to be dead simple to use while keeping the integrity of the desktop layout’s immersive and engaging feel.
Quick access to what
matters most on the go.
Awwwards
Site of the Day
Extra recognition = more visitors
On March 26th of 2016 the Discovery Building website redesign by Coulee Creative won the prestigious Awwwards.com "Site Of The Day" award. This award is in recognition of the talent and effort of the best web designers, developers and agencies in the world.
