We first told you about Open Studio Club (opens in new tab), a service designed to help creatives find and rent studio space around the world, back in November (opens in new tab). Since then the service has gone from strength to strength, with over 500 studios listed from all over the world - and now comes the inevitable website refresh.
But rather than falling into the usual trap of increasing complexity, adding extra buttons and generally confusing the heck out of people with all the extra bloat, Open Studio Club has gone in exactly the opposite direction, giving their site a dramatic 'make-under'.
On reaching the homepage the visitor is now met by a starkly minimalist design based on bare-bones, geometric shapes set against a grey and white background.
It's an unusual approach, and one which certainly conveys the idea of 'space', as well as the 'blank canvas' of opportunities the service (essentially the Airbnb (opens in new tab) of the design studio world) is offering.
New features
The redesign is not all entirely about stripping back; some new services and design elements have been added.
Every studio now gets its own page featuring a large colour photo, for instance, while a new section called 'Work Cafes' is intended to help freelancers find cafes in their local area that welcome them. The redesign also features a range of special designed icons/pictograms to allow studios to highlight the facilities they offer in a clearer way.
Overall, though, the grey, minimal aesthetic is carried across, giving the site a design unity and strikingly unique look throughout. We'd love to hear what you think of this approach to site design - let us know your views in the comments below!
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