Architecture, Design and Digital Experiences

06/06/2017 By Kate Fairman Reading Time: 3 minutes

Welcome to June – Summer for us here in London. Or, at least, whatever it is that “Summer” means to Londoners. More often than not: a week of Pimms-infused, burn-inducing sunshine at the end of May, followed by three months of torrential rain. Luckily for our team, central offices just off of Oxford Street mean that we’re never short of city-based stuff to see and do even when its miserable outside.

This month, the city’s offering comes in the form of Europe’s biggest annual architecture event, the London Festival of Architecture. The theme this year is memory: global memory, sensory memory, shared history, memories of the home. A series of exhibitions, installations, open studios, discussions and walks explore the way that architectural spaces contribute to the cultural identity of a city. Our highlights from this year’s program? We’ll be heading to the NLA Annual Lecture 2017, given by Sir David Adjaye OBE, plus checking out open studios from Make Architects and Kohn Pederson Fox.

What does great design mean to us?

This task of translating memory, or identity, into first an aesthetic and then a usable structure is a complex one. Design is not just about creating something visually amazing. It’s about finding a way to guide your visitor through the space in a way that feels natural and easy. It’s about beauty, but it’s also about function. As the way that we navigate our online and “in-real-life” spaces come closer together, design has never been more important in creating websites. Comfort, curation, usability, a consistent colour palette, plus little stylistic nuances – they’re all things that we now look for in our digital as well as our offline experiences.

It’s because of this connection that some of our favourite projects have been websites for architectural and interior design houses. We design and build great things, they design and build great things. And, in fact, there’s a lot of similarities between the two processes. Tasked with creating the perfect website, our team begin with a wireframe as our structural skeleton to build on. Moving through to the UX stages, we plan an environment that makes sense for a human; form meets function as we design a purposeful experience which is rich in narrative. And, finally, our development team take the whole thing and turn it into something solid and stable, that can keep all of this in place.

It’s taking a vision and turning it into something structural, usable and beautiful. We recently put our shared design-smarts together with luxury interior architecture house, Lawson Robb. Here’s a look at how we helped them out:

Lawson Robb

Lawson Robb are experts in forward-thinking design and meticulous delivery. A global leader offering a highly coutured service for high-end clients, with a portfolio spanning London’s Mayfair to Dubai.

What did they need from us?

They came to us for a digital platform that could showcase their truly spectacular work. Specialists in timeless luxury design, their passionate team have spent time forming longstanding relationships with their clients. Our goal was to translate these core values into a digital experience. They needed the polished aesthetic of their projects to be reflected in the site design; something minimalist and chic with a slick customer journey. So, what does that look like? For us: a beautiful site design featuring full-screen images and an intuitive journey for the user. Our team were happy to accept the challenge.

How did we help?

We came back to them with a site that delivered on our shared vision: a stylish, user-friendly digital showcase for their portfolio. There was a lot to live up to when it came to great design, but our minimalist visual aesthetic and careful curation of images made for an elegant end-result. We achieved the sleek user journey with a clear navigation and responsive design. Plus, by optimizing for mobile, we made sure that the website was as visible and accessible as possible.