We have a new website, thanks to Composite Co.
We spent a good four years with our janky little Wordpress template site, but now we’re graduating to a new, bespoke site that we’re so excited to share with you.
We were able to get away with a very homey site for a long time because, well, we didn’t need it to do much: as long as the mechanism for signups was still hooking up with Mailchimp, well, why fix something that’s not broke?
But when the chance to do something with Composite Co. came around again — they did our brand redesign that we rolled out last year — we had to jump on it.
The site still doesn’t need to do much. The newsletter is where we deliver content; the site is a more static venue that mainly drives signups and fulfills a couple more functions, like giving people information about our team.
Jacob and Christian at Composite took that lean functionality and stuck with it. I love the result: it eschews the infinite-scroll aesthetic so pervasive on the web today for something minimalist that isn’t cold or lifeless. It actually kind of reminded me of a postcard (specifically the old French par avion style), which is really cool — 730DC is kind of like a note for your mailbox, and also a love letter to the city itself.
I sent them some questions, because I’m nosy (and want to know the secret to their creativity and productivity — they’re consistently behind some of the coolest projects around).
thanks so much for building this awesome website for us. what was your inspiration for the layout? it’s both nontraditional and, i think, very intuitive.
We really loved the initial brand we created, but we were more excited to push it to the next level in its evolution. We were still of course inspired by the futuristic augmented reality aspects that were referenced in the initial branding effort last year, but we wanted to lean into a sort of normcore, post-aesthetic tone that naturally comes across in the content of 730DC. There’s quite a bit of sarcasm and irony brooding in this brand. The layout specifically, especially on desktop, was meant to be a kind of dashboard for all things 730DC. We think it’s brutalist-lite and the main goal is to prioritize and push sign-ups. We didn’t want people scrolling into infinity like we tend to do these days. Make it bold, graphic, and simple — with a little whimsy thrown in the mix (e.g. form submission confirmation messages).
what was your favorite part of the website to design and build?
Our favorites were the motion and interaction components. We love fun hover interactions and clever little moving bits in digital that help breathe a little life into it, so we splashed a little of that in to match the aforementioned quirk of the brand. Also the menu on mobile is pretty amazing. We don’t want it to be gimmicky. Just a tasteful amount of fun and flare. There’s even a little Easter egg to be found.
what else are you working on that you’re excited about?
SO MUCH / EVERYTHING. We have so much work coming and and we’re growing like crazy these days (we’re looking to hire a project manager and designers) which is such an amazing place to be in — we are so grateful. In some of our latest projects we’re expanding more into interiors (“experiential branding”), photo, and video which is pushing us creatively and allowing us to collaborate with some of the most amazing creatives in DC and beyond. All of our new clients are true visionaries and their shared passion to innovate, progress, and change the world for the better makes each team and each project an inspiring adventure. Design, branding, and creative direction work for hotels, media outlets, magazines, restaurants, and art projects are all in our future. Not to mention a new secret side project we’re cooking up. Exciting times are upon us.
