How to structure a site: Studio Last’s form-meets-function website for EMOP is a digital delight

Bringing together a wide-ranging curation of the world’s latest and greatest photography, European Month of Photography is an unbridled celebration of the art form. To mark its tenth outing, the photographic festival not only launched 100 exhibitions across German cities but collaborated with multidisciplinary creative practice Studio Last to translate their punchy, playful identity across a powerful website. Based in Berlin, Studio Last’s mission was to craft a space that channels the sense of creative expression at the heart of the festival whilst also acting as an ultimately functional tool – offering the festival’s audience a practical guide to navigating its 100 exhibitions, artists and images. “We have developed a few things without changing the identity too much and thus adapted the existing design to our needs,” Founder Matthias Last tells us, discussing the studio’s potential amends to EMOP’s existing identity. “For web, you have to think about design on other levels in order to generate excitement,” he contextualises, kinetically setting the logo in a rotating cube, for instance. “The animated cube brings a focus onto the logo and enhances user interactivity,” Last adds, introducing additional variable features, such as type size adjustment and a dark mode switch to shape a truly interactive experience. Going on to additionally alter the festival’s signature yellow shade, opting for a lighter hue; Last details, “it fits perfectly with the festival and the photography we are showing,” expanding, “we utilised this yellow colour sparingly on the website, to create a strong contrast with the black and white palette;” a stark, structural vibe that Studio Last carried into the website’s structure. “We also utilised a rigid, Swiss structure for the website,” Last recalls, “which organises all the photographs and information in clearly defined boxes and spaces,” creating an accessible, striking editorial-meets-brutal space that champions the multitude of talent featured in the festival.