Responses by Nick Hoag, managing partner, The Future Forward

Background: The goal was to create an immersive, content-rich experience that showcases both the large body of work and the depth of the data and research performed by the firm. While its primary audience is potential clients, Eskew Dumez Ripple also seeks to provide the greater architecture and design community with access to its insights and research in the field. In preparation for the firm’s 30th anniversary, we evolved its brand identity as the foundational work that leads into the new website. By developing a visual language that maintained existing brand equity, all the while looking to the future, we were able to define a consistent identity across all touchpoints.

Highlights: The depth of content and functionality that is displayed across all project and case study pages. Each page has different types of content—video, VR, photography, drawings and renders—so we sought to create a design system that keeps every page feeling modular and fresh.

Challenges: Accommodating for a vast array of content without overwhelming users or the internal website managers; this is something we feel we resolved on both ends.

Favorite details: The seamless “next project” transition at the bottom of each project and case study worked out nicely, enabling users to go from one project to another with as little friction as possible. We also like the custom Lagniappe page, complete with ample information on the amazing city of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Navigational structure: The goal was to have a navigation that was always present, but never obtrusive. There are also multiple levels of navigation and we were able to pair this down to the most pertinent sections, minimizing confusion. The use of custom cursors for different key calls-to-action was also a fun aspect of the navigation that came together for a clear purpose.