Taking Leaps: Designing an Award-Winning Website for Milwaukee Ballet
BVK
The new site has earned two prestigious Webby Awards
How do you capture the elegance, grace and excitement of going to the ballet? More importantly, how do you communicate that experience to patrons, donors and dancer companies across the globe? You design a website that is as beautiful and captivating as the performances that grace the stage.
Working hand-in-hand with the Milwaukee Ballet, BVK set out to create a site that’s both stunning and deftly developed; equally showcasing the art form as well as outreach, academic offerings and donations, all within one holistic vessel. A website that gracefully unites the beauty of dance with the artistry of seamless design and user experience.
In January 2017, BVK launched the new MilwaukeeBallet.org. The full-scale site redesign included combining two large-scale websites for the Ballet Company and the School & Academy into one seamless experience. Each site with its own internal stakeholders and core target audiences.
Thrilling news
Excitingly, the work recently received two Webby Awards, including the official juried Webby Award and a Webby People’s Voice Award for “Best Homepage,” across all categories. The site also received an honorable mention for best overall website in the charitable/non-profit category.
These awards are considered among the most-respected symbols of success in the digital and creative industries, and honor excellence in websites; film and video; advertising; media and public relations; social media; mobile apps and podcasts; and digital audio.
Established in 1996 during the Web’s infancy, The Webbys are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS)—a 2000+ member judging body. The Academy is comprised of Executive Members—leading Web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities—and Associate Members who are former Webby Winners, Nominees and other Internet professionals.
The New York Times has described the Webbys as “The Internet’s highest honor.” In other words, they’re a big deal.
So how’d we do it?
How did we create an award-winning website? In all seriousness, winning awards is never the goal when we embark on a project. In our efforts to create best-in-class work for the Milwaukee Ballet, we were lucky enough to have gained the recognition of the creative community.
The Milwaukee Ballet inspired us, and we’re always looking for clients to collaborate with us to build something special. Check out the site at MilwaukeeBallet.org.
