Kulturtanken – website & storytelling
Together we have developed conceptual direction and design for two sites: Kulturtanken.no and their digital storytelling, magasin.kulturtanken.no
Read more about Erik Fosheim Brandsborg, Digital Editor at Kulturtanken and his thoughts on the creative process and wishes from our exciting collaboration.
Kulturtanken is a state organization for art and culture for children and young people. They have the national responsibility for DKS, an arrangement that ensures that all schoolchildren in Norway get to experience professional art and culture every year. We started our collaboration in 2020 and is still ongoing, now with new projects where Innocode has, among other things, been given responsibility for updating the visual profile and web design for "The cultural school bag", DKS. We are proud and grateful for the collaboration with Kulturtanken!
Website in WordPress with Gutenberg
Together with Kulturtanken, we have developed conceptual direction and design and produced Kulturtanken.no. The website is built in WordPress with Gutenberg, and the theme is specially designed according to Kulturtanken's business goals in strategy and wishes for function and design.
The website has been built with a focus on universal design for the end user, but also to make it easy for Kulturtanken's administration to update their content.
Why were you looking for a new website and profile?
"We had websites that were developed as a temporary solution, so they had to be upgraded anyway and we had a number of new needs. We wanted to further develop the profile in order to have a larger toolbox and for it to reflect what we work with in an even better way."
Key Technical Features:
- Specially designed event calendar
- Filterable database adapted to Kulturtanken's main target groups
- Multilingual website
What have you learned from the project?
“I have received some reminders that it is important to draw up specific and accurate orders, as there have been some misunderstandings during the project. Web development is so complex, and all decisions affect many other things, so it's important to keep your tongue in your mouth.”
Graphic profile
The design of the website started off to be based on Kulturtanken's original graphic profile. But the project changed along the way including with an update of the visual expression. This was implemented in their new website, as well as in a detailed digital handbook on how the profile should be used in advertisements, presentations, etc. Check out their graphic profile
The colors have been processed, and the icons updated and animated to give Kulturtanken's visual impression more life and energy without straying too far from how the recipient is used to seeing.
Kulturtanken has received a lot of positive feedback on our new websites as they work well both aesthetically and functionally. The change has also helped us to improve the workflow in our publishing work.
"Scrollytelling" based on the WP theme Divi
In addition to the main site, a separate website was also developed for Kulturtanken's stories. This is also built in WordPress with the editing module Divi.
The website is built in a separate framework so that Kulturtanken can adapt the design to a greater extent to their story being told. Divi was a cost-effective alternative that gives Kulturtanken the opportunity to adapt the design on their own as new stories come in, without them having to develop new templates.
By having two different frameworks, one for Kulturtanken.no and one for magasin.kulturtanken.no, it is easy for the admin to make changes to the main website without compromising the editing options on the "scrollytelling" website.
A package of modules and templates, based on the main website's design was the starting point when Innocode had the training with Kulturtanken's team so that they can manage the websites themselves and set up new stories. Divi was well suited to use as Kulturtanken has expertise in-house both in digital design and administration of WordPress. And they have managed the new websites with flying colors.
How do you compare working with Divi vs Gutenberg?
“They are a bit like night and day. Divi is very free with an incredible number of possibilities, while Gutenberg is relatively strict, where everything must fit into a predefined system.”
Do you see any advantages or disadvantages to the solutions?
"Divi gives us completely new opportunities for unique, innovative and engaging content. That is of course a great advantage, but the disadvantage is that it requires a certain web expertise to publish, and each unique page must be carefully quality assured. In that case, it is important to have good templates and good training, and Innocode has helped us with that. When it comes to Gutenberg, the advantage is that it is quick and easy to publish new pages because everything works as it should within the framework Innocode has set up for us."
We are generally very satisfied with the collaboration. Innocode has been flexible and service oriented, and has shown a good understanding of our needs. Deliveries are of high quality, both in terms of visual profile and web development.
