Responses by Kevin Masselink, digital designer and developer, and Sander Rohrink, art director and owner, Uncommon.

Background: We developed the website for painting dealer Pieter Koopt to make the art world more accessible, transparent and personal. Its goal is to simplify the process of selling paintings, removing the complexity and commissions that are often part of the traditional art market, while still preserving space for the story and emotional value behind each artwork.

The target audience mainly consists of people who want to sell a painting or have inherited an artwork but do not feel at home in the traditional art world. The platform focuses on these users by offering a trustworthy, simple and contemporary experience.

Design core: From a functional perspective, the most important feature is the submission process, where users can easily upload and submit their artwork for review and receive a personal offer. This process is structured step by step and designed to be approachable, making it feel clear and barrier-free. In addition, the website consists of two distinct layers: a practical flow for selling art and a storytelling section where the history and emotional value of works can continue to live on.

In terms of design, we chose a deliberate balance between classic and modern. This is reflected in the combination of serif and sans-serif typography, and the color palette consists of warm, rich tones that reference classical painting but are applied in a subtle, contemporary way. The overall design is intended to convey trust without feeling static or outdated, supporting an experience where simplicity, emotion and storytelling are central.

Favorite details: What stands out most is the way purchased artworks are given a lasting place on the website, ensuring that the history and emotional value of a piece of art continue to exist online even after it has been sold. Within the strategy of Pieter Koopt, this reinforces the idea that art does not end with a transfer of ownership but instead begins a new chapter. It contributes to the platform’s overarching goal: preserving, passing on and evolving stories in a digital environment.

Challenges: Finding the right balance between experience and conversion—between creating an immersive experience and actually encouraging users to submit their artwork. On one hand, the website needed to offer a rich, emotional and narrative-driven experience that does justice to the world of art and the background of each piece. On the other hand, the platform also needed to remain highly functional: users must be able to submit their painting easily and move smoothly toward conversion.

Those two goals can easily conflict. Too much focus on experience can make the process complicated, while too much focus on conversion can diminish the emotional value and storytelling aspect of the artwork. The challenge was to create a flow and design where both elements strengthen rather than compete with each other.

Technology: The website is built using Webflow as the foundation for both design and front-end development. For the artwork submission process, we used Uploadcare to allow users to easily upload and manage files. In addition, sound effects are integrated using howler.js, adding an extra interactive and experience-driven layer to the website. This combination makes it possible to create a visually strong, user-friendly and interactive experience without requiring a fully custom back-end system.