Freelance (2017) | Agency: FutureBrand | My role: Lead Visual Designer
IntechOpen offer an open-access publishing platform to academics around the world. They specialise in scientific publications, and are the leading international platform in this sector. FutureBrand developed a completely new identity for the company, and I was asked to design a website based on this new brand.
The challenge was to take a very minimal, almost brutally simple brand, and design a usable interface around it. I introduced very subtle shadows to the UI elements, and specified interactive states to complement the basic colour palette of red, cream and black.
Colourful abstract photography is used minimally through the site; predominantly just for book covers, for which we developed a design system, and for the 'about us' section. Meanwhile, search is essential to the site's success, and is put at the forefront of key pages.
A good amount of time, research and effort was put into making the reading experience as comfortable as possible across every device. The copy of IntechOpen's publications is often extremely long and presents exceptionally complex concepts, so it was vital for the success of the site that distractions were kept to a minimum.
On mobile devices, the user can bring up a chapter index and selection of tools at any time while reading a publication.
The mobile and tablet breakpoints feature the full functionality of the desktop version of the site. The experience of using the site is intended to be relaxing and immersive at any size.
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