A new website celebrating artistic and social commitments in dance
Branding | Web Design | Web Development
The project
Surface Area Dance Theatre is an award-winning, multi-disciplinary dance company. Established in 2007, company Directors, Nicole Vivien Watson and Paul Miller, have gone on to collaborate with artists, participants and academics from across the world.
Dedicated to developing an original dance language that champions the artistic and social commitments of the company, Surface Area is also a registered Level 2 Disability Confident Committed Employer, a scheme developed by employers and disabled people’s representatives.
TAC were approached to design and build a new website for the theatre. Our challenge was to clearly communicate the purpose and motivations of the company, while simultaneously celebrating their inspiring work. Upcoming events, as well as their past repertoire, needed to be listed and presented in a way that encourages future participants to join and become a part of their community.
Celebrating collaboration
Working closely with company Director, Nicole Vivien Watson, we carried out an initial research phase. This allowed us to not only understand the company’s purpose and direction, but also carefully construct a user experience that engages with its current, and future, collaborators and participants.
Our response to the brief is a website inspired by the fluid nature of the theatre’s performances. Each page of their new website is completely modular, allowing content publishers to create unique templates.
This flexible approach to design and development was key in allowing Surface Area’s work translates into a digital format, without losing its originality and identity.
Representing their community
Another important motive of the site was to highlight the work and experience of staff and collaborators associated with Surface Area.
Directors, Advisors and others alike are committed to enabling discourse with the D/deaf and hearing community through channels in English, British and International Sign Languages.
Each bio can be individually constructed, allowing staff and collaborators to put forward their own unique stories.
Inspiring participation
Wanting to encourage the wider community to join and participate with the theatre, Surface Area wanted to make events easily accessible.
As well as being able to archive past events, upcoming workshops and productions can be listed in a chronological format. Each event page can be built by publishers using modular content blocks, while tickets can be purchased using an external link to their chosen provider.
