Air, river, soil

The design of Air, River, Soil was based on the concept of wayfinding and was intended to be both aesthetically pleasing and highly functional.

• Logical page structure and intuitive navigation system
• Clear visual cues indicating what actions can be undertaken
• Contrasting colour and typography choices for better legibility
• Entirely designed for keyboard navigation

The main design feature : Image descriptions are displayed at the same level as their corresponding images

We wanted to challenge the hierarchy between able-bodied and disabled users reinforced by mainstream web design practices while adding another dimension to the digital experience. In mainstream web design practices, image descriptions also known as “alternative text” is hidden from most users. Here they are given their place as a fundamental part of the digital exhibition experience.

We found that pairing images and their descriptions in a visible way changed the whole online experience of a gallery. The beautifully-written prose of the image descriptions allows us to grasp more information than from just staring at an image. We would be able to understand how the photographer felt when taking the photo, at what time of the day it was, where it was, who the people being photographed were etc… Like putting flesh on bones to get a better sense of the feelings the photographer wanted to convey through their camera.

The unique feature of the website also brought its biggest challenge. Displaying the image description as a simple caption would beat the purpose of rejecting conventional hierarchy in web practices as the alt-text would appear as an accessory to the image. However, some of the descriptions were very long and the layout would not allow having both on the same screen, especially on smaller devices.

We solved this problem by creating a gallery view where the image and description could be viewed as stand-alone artefacts of the exhibition placed next to each other.