Jasmine-crisp-painting
Web design & UX for Artbank

Supporting Australia’s contemporary art sector

A 40th anniversary website for Artbank

Artbank is part
of the Australian
Government Office
for the Arts

Artbank is part of the Australian Government Office for the Arts, in the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications.

For 40 years Artbank has supported Australia’s contemporary art sector through the acquisition, leasing and promotion of local artists and their art.

Icon was selected to design and develop a new website to coincide with Artbank’s 40th anniversary.

blue container
soup cans

Time for new

Artbank had an aging and difficult to navigate website. It was also lacking a sophisticated search function and was running on an outdated CMS and hosting facility.

The Office had selected GovCMS as their future managed solution, and Artbank needed a beautifully designed and bespoke solution to lift the site's usability and highlight their collection of over 10,000 works.

Art Bank Home
Art Bank collection

An iterative
and tested
approach

Artbank needed a more usable site that also celebrated creativity. Finding this balance took numerous rounds of design, prototyping and gathering user feedback.

With a range of stakeholders it was important to conduct interviews and set up site visits to see how the organisation ran its operations. Understanding their physical business processes helped us streamline the web experience.

Artbank’s collection database is managed via the EMu Collection Management System, so having this maintained and hosted in a more stable manner was a critical component of the new build.

artist profiles

Agile delivery
methodology

The project was run using an agile delivery methodology which included a number of key milestones prescribed by the DTA Digital Service Standard.

These included:

  • Stakeholder consultation and on-site visits to view the collection and talk through acquisition and leasing processes

  • Deep user research and needs analysis, including feedback on information architecture and prototype designs

  • Design of a wireframe prototyping

  • Extensive user testing and fine-tuning of user flows

  • A new interface and design system that was fresh, friendly and highlighted the collection

  • Production of a component library and key landing pages

  • Development of an accessible, responsive front-end theme

  • GovCMS and custom functionality development

  • Integration with Emu Collections Management Software

  • Content import and formatting

  • User acceptance testing and bug fixes

  • Deployment and IT support.

Art bank whats on

A beautiful
website that's
easy to use

The new website supports Artbank’s mission to promote the value of Australian contemporary art to the broader public. Technically sophisticated and beautifully designed, we've made it easy for people to find and lease works; support living artists through the acquisition of their work; promote events; and simplify the way Artbank publishes and manages content.

Visit the Artbank website.