Between Summer 2013 and Summer 2014, marketing company early-adopter.com worked as part of a team to provide a complete re-branding for the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. We were responsible for the information architecture and build of the website but were also participants in the development of a new mission statement and brand bible. As we went through this process we saw the wealth of archives that were available to LMCC and the opportunity to make the site more than a brochure. We saw the opportunity to create an archive like what White Columns or the New Museum has but more complete. LMCC provides invaluable services to artists in New York as well as presenting cutting-edge arts performances and events to the public. The website supports this community by providing a profile and record of every place and partner that LMCC has worked with, so that the focus is not just on individual artists or events but also is a mirror of the art world. Sarah Perry-Stout was the Information Architect on the project and was the primary creator of all the wireframes, site maps, ERDS, content inventories, user profiles and other organizational materials for the site. The LMCC staff was engaged, helpful and supportive of trying new ideas and wanted their site to reflect the dynamism and experimentation of the art world. The site is a customized WordPress build and was designed with WordPress functionalities in mind.

This site poses a solution to a common problem: how to present archives on a website without overwhelming the user or burying the content. Any organization which has events, speakers, programs and locations could adopt this system to keep users on the site longer and give them a better appreciation for the organization’s breadth. Arts organizations in particular would benefit from the visual appeal of the system and the intuitive yet scholarly organization. With limited resources available for the project, we could have insisted on paring down the client’s rich archive. Instead we found an elegant way to use classification and interaction to make the information clear and enticing.