// CASE 09 · LPM · AVNODE
An archive you can walk through.
AVNode is the international network of the audio-visual performing arts, built by the people behind LPM Live Performers Meeting. I was the sole author of the rebrand, the logotype, the information architecture, the website design and the UX.
Like this mockup? Ask me how to get it
1
signal colour, emerald, on a violet-black stage
3
doors into the same archive: performers, performances, events
4
logotype variants, for dark and light grounds
2004
the first LPM in Rome, where the archive begins
01
Executive summary
Twenty years of LPM produced a huge archive: performers, works, festivals, videos, galleries. The database held it together. The site did not. I set five rules before drawing a single screen. The interface is a dark room with one bright signal, and amber is kept for actions. Performers, performances and events link to each other on every page, so the archive reads as a graph. The triangle from the logotype frames every image. Pixel type speaks, Roboto Flex is for reading. The new AVNode is live on avnode.net, with a documented design system behind it.
02
Four phases
➔ Rebrand and logotype: the AV mark, the pixel wordmark, four variants
➔ Information architecture: three linked entities, faceted filters, one navigation
➔ Design system: colour, type, triangle masks, components
➔ Page design: homepage, performer, performance and event
Tools & tactics
Brand identity
Information architecture
Design system
Web UX and UI
03
Issues discovered
➔ Performers and Performances, the two main menu items, read almost the same at a glance.
➔ Who played what, and where, lived in the database and never reached the page.
➔ Videos and galleries were scattered inside profiles and events, with no home of their own.
➔ An archive this deep gave a first-time visitor no clear way in.
Five rules before the first screen
The dark is the stage
A graph, not a tree
The triangle frames every image
Pixel type speaks, plain type reads
Amber is only for actions
04
Results
AVNode got a new identity, an information architecture built on three linked entities and a design system documented down to the components. The site is live on avnode.net, and the homepage, performer, performance and event pages share one grammar. What I cannot show yet: numbers on how people move through the archive. What comes next is listening. I am presenting the new AVNode to its community and opening a Numena survey for performers, organisers and audience. The Compass it produces decides the next phase, and this page will carry its results.
05
Lessons learned
➔ Two labels that look alike are one label too many
➔ A relationship in the database counts only once it reaches the page
➔ A strong shape carries a brand further than a palette
➔ Ask the community before the next round, then design
