A website about street dance that highlights the cultural roots of street dance while emphasizing how they continue to influence modern street dance worldwide by showcasing the profiles of specific street dancers.The topic of street dance culture is significant because of its ties to community, self-expression, and emphasis on creative improvisation in dance battles.
Website Design
Approach
My key design decisions were informed by the challenge of making the site feel visually energetic and carry the essence of street dance while also being functional and educational. I focused on fewer interactive elements with more impact, experimenting with full-bleed imagery, image-first layouts, bold typography that holds meaning while exploring a color palette that embodies movement and urban culture.
Research
Existing dance content platforms such as Redbull Dance and Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing helped me understand the standards and gaps in real-world websites that I can try improving with my design. Looking through many types of experimental editorial websites at the beginning stage of the design process also broadened my scope of understanding of what my target audience might want to see the most, whether that was certain interactions or content that they would likely engage with. My approach of combining research, collecting relevant content, and putting myself in the user’s shoes allowed me to define my visual language, which contains simple navigation combined with a balance of interactive images and bold text.Interaction
The website is introduced with video and still images that shift with clicks, eliminating static that wouldn’t align with my topic. Continuous scrolling that reveals new content evokes a feeling of rhythmic flow, which imitates the foundation of flow and connection in street dance. There are also hover states, dropdowns, dynamic transitions, and change of depth from blurry to sharp. These affordances of the web allow the user to get familiar with not just the content, but also the vibe or essence of the topic they are learning about.