Responses by Bruno Choinère, creative director, and Nicolas Daniel and Adrien Vanderpotte, creative developers, Akufen
Background: Our projects are our greatest pride, and we had to put them on a shiny pedestal! The main goal of this new website is to share our creative craziness and inform visitors of our services and expertise. Of course, we’re targeting potential clients, but we also want to make sure that we inspire talents from all around the world to join our family. We feel that the new site is a great portrayal of what we’ve become and where we’re going.
Core design: Each case study has its own template as they’re all unique and must be shared in their very own way. They’re all considered creative endeavors as they give a glimpse of the brand’s personality or its online experience. And for those who loved our old website and might think that we’ve lost our sass, help yourself and select the text in the studio section—or visit our 404 page!
Challenges: Prioritizing our own website in our busy schedule was probably one of the biggest challenges. We love our clients and always run the extra mile to make sure that every project is pushed to its limit. Our website was no exception: we tested, designed and programmed a couple of ideas before we knew exactly what we wanted to create. But it’s always harder to work for yourself, right? We gathered so many great talents around the table that we had to deal with a lot of overthinking, questioning and late-night shifts. All this brainstorming naturally led to new ideas, but our ambition was to push the envelope, so we managed to include pretty much everything that excited us!
Navigation structure: The entire process started with our two poles of expertise: brand expression and interactive experiences. It turns out that an anamorphosis would bridge these two concepts, just as we do in our creative process. Every day we work towards a more integrated idea of creativity, where branding positively impacts interactive experiences and storytelling becomes a huge playground for our process. Most importantly, we wanted to create a sharp experience that’s easy to navigate and one where you can easily find what you’re looking for. No one wants to scroll forever!
Technology: The site was built using Craft, Twig, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, WebGL, three.js and GSAP.