Artwave Festival
Connecting the creative community in Sussex
The Sussex art council representative in Lewes was in need of a way to better connect with its festival visitors. A simple app enabled key communication with interest groups, including finding events, booking tickets and accessing a shortlist of favourites.
Client Art council representation Lewes, Sussex UK
Role Lead Designer
Team Sole design support
Time 5 months, ongoing consultation, 2024
Key results
The new app was significantly more user friendly and accessible than either the old website, or the paper printout, which was often left behind, misplaced or not loading in time.
Impact
A strategically planned, designed and implemented user experience increased engagement, interest and ways to share and alert visitors to new events, activate the community and get attendance numbers rising.
Learnings
Working with a small art charity requires patience and extra time, due to other commitments and volunteers’ time commitment.
Approach
The Sussex Artwave festival is a non-profit art community supporting local creatives, events, and interest groups. Unfortunately the website has not seen much traffic.
User behaviour
Speaking with visitors to the Artwave festival, it was clear that the majority of people relied on a paper programme that was printed and published each year. The website itself was out of date and traffic had beens stagnant since the day the website was released in 2016.
Iterative and continuous improvement
We proposed a simple app backed by a headless CMS that could be easily updated and maintained over time. This would save printing and editorial costs. It would also allow visitors easier access for changes or updates in calendars, events or venues.
Brand and storytelling
The Artwave festival often has evening and sunset hours. Thus, the colours of the brand were reminiscent of a soft Sussex sunset, applicable both in summer and winter colours, with the picturesque roaming hills, the light blue sky reflecting the sparkling sea.
Structure and architecture
Both in the application itself and the information hierarchy, the structure of the experience needed strategic planning and composition.
