Responses by Mike Kelar, cofounder and co–executive creative director, Jacknife.

Background: Our new website was created to bring to life our agency’s values, culture, services and diverse portfolio in a visually rich, unexpected and fun-to-explore way. We’re primarily talking to potential clients and new talent, aiming to connect with business leaders or decision makers who understand the value of creative thinking and quality branding and need our help moving their organization forward.

Design core: With our company’s roots going back almost 30 years to the mid-90s, we wanted to draw inspiration from our past while embracing contemporary design. This resulted in an aesthetic mix of modern design influences and retro technology nods—fax machines, analog video, photocopiers, print registration marks, 8-bit graphics and answering machines. We feel the site has a charm that stands out as unique and delivers an experience that’s both familiar and refreshingly unexpected, a departure from the often sterile landscape of contemporary corporate websites.

Favorite details: We’re most proud of the small details you tend to notice the more you spend time with the site. It’s the little glitches in typographic animations, subtle shifts in background analog textures and graphic “discoverables” that really bring the site to life. It takes commitment to give these types of things the time they require to create, but in the end, they enrich the viewer’s experience and demonstrate our commitment to always nailing the details in creative, unexpected ways.

Challenges: Designing our new website was tough while handling our busy load of client projects. Balancing client needs with our own marketing efforts can feel like spinning plates. Unfortunately, our site sometimes ended up on the back burner while we shifted to service our clients. It was a balancing act, but we overcame the challenge and created something we’re proud of.

Technology: The back end was built on WordPress and PHP, and the front end uses CSS, ES6, GSAP and HTML.