The voice of Nordic art and culture on a global stage

Since its inception in 1966 the Nordic Culture Fund’s operations have been built on the belief that art and culture are capable of taking the lead in building international and global networks that can help us understand and develop societies. The fund awards grants worth approximately DKK 28 million every year, supporting around 340 projects, with the mission to stimulate the development of artistic and cultural life in the Nordics, and create a flexible framework for new collaborations and initiatives across borders. We were hired to help the team defining their goals for their new website and develop a new site design that was aligned with their new strategy and could strengthen their connection to their different audiences.


Client:
Nordic Culture Fund
Year:
2023
Industry:
Art & Culture
Scope:
Website Design
Visual Identity Evolution
Communication Design


The voice of Nordic art and culture on a global stage

Since its inception in 1966 the Nordic Culture Fund’s operations have been built on the belief that art and culture are capable of taking the lead in building international and global networks that can help us understand and develop societies. The fund awards grants worth approximately DKK 28 million every year, supporting around 340 projects, with the mission to stimulate the development of artistic and cultural life in the Nordics, and create a flexible framework for new collaborations and initiatives across borders. We were hired to help the team defining their goals for their new website and develop a new site design that was aligned with their new strategy and could strengthen their connection to their different audiences.


Client:
Nordic Culture Fund
Year:
2023
Industry:
Art & Culture
Scope:
Website Design
Visual Identity Evolution
Communication Design


Point of Departure

Before articulating where an organisation is going we need to define where they are at. With the Nordisk Kulturfond team we ran a workshop where we defined pain points, sweet spots and opportunities of their current website. Only when we had reached a clear understanding in that regard we moved on to define the team’s vision for the new site and what success for this project would look like. In this process it crystallised itself quite early that also their current identity needed to evolve in order to be able to lift and activate the organisation’s future communications.

An open concept of Nordic

One of the big topics during our discovery phase with the team was the wish to challenge the definition of the term Nordic, inviting local and global artists to embrace it as something which is constantly in flux and without borders. The concept of the graphic element in the old visual identity centered around vertical direction. We gave it the capability to be flexible and function as an open framework that could integrate in a more versatile way with the fund’s communications.

Expanding the visual universe

Nordic Culture Fund was missing a visual language to complement their written voice. As the Fund operates on a high level and not always has imagery to accompany their communications, we developed a illustrative universe built on the marrying elements of nature and human made shapes into a weightless pattern. A rich colour palette adds depth and character to the organisation’s brand.

An open source for knowledge and inspiration

For the fund’s website our task lied in creating a highly accessible, open and inviting experience, but also get all stakeholders to the information they need as directly as possible. The new website’s sweet spot lies in striking the balance between a visual and inspiring expression and in-depth written content following a clear information architecture.

Together with the development team we created an automated yet flexible framework enabling the team to create editorial and visual storytelling to highlight their different funding programs, showcase artists’ projects and profiles and promote activities and events engaging with the Nordic arts and culture scene.

Brand activation

While the fund’s re-freshed identity is visually rich and versatile it’s actually very straight forward to use in day to day life. As a public organisation it was essential to the fund’s team that internal templates were aligned with the new brand and that its specifications were documented in a brand guide.

"Today Studio's small and efficient design team with positive energy helped to nail a visual presentation of the organization's language, tasks and ambitions. Thank you Christina and Leon!"

Nina Leppänen Rickert – Senior Advisor, Nordic Culture Fund

"Today Studio's small and efficient design team with positive energy helped to nail a visual presentation of the organization's language, tasks and ambitions. Thank you Christina and Leon!"

Nina Leppänen Rickert – Senior Advisor, Nordic Culture Fund

Reflections

This project holds a special place for us not only because we strongly believe in the importance of art and culture for today’s society, but also because we completely subscribe to the Fund’s strategy to expand their mission to a global level. Nothing seems more important these days than promoting a global culture of true inclusivity, inviting to open conversations and collaborations. We look forward to seeing the team utilising their evolved brand and new website to inspire and bring together artists and stakeholders from a wide range of areas and cultures – we are sure the results will not only be stunning but also incredibly impactful.


Website development: Re:


Reflections

This project holds a special place for us not only because we strongly believe in the importance of art and culture for today’s society, but also because we completely subscribe to the Fund’s strategy to expand their mission to a global level. Nothing seems more important these days than promoting a global culture of true inclusivity, inviting to open conversations and collaborations. We look forward to seeing the team utilising their evolved brand and new website to inspire and bring together artists and stakeholders from a wide range of areas and cultures – we are sure the results will not only be stunning but also incredibly impactful.


Website development: Re: