Dutch Design Week, Making every week Dutch Design Week
In close collaboration we create new ways for Dutch Designers to connect and interact with manufacturers and visitors.
Making every week Dutch Design Week
Dutch Design Week (DDW) is Europe’s largest design event. Since 2020 it’s online as well. Dutch Design Foundation has chosen Verve as its digital innovation partner to create more impact as an organization. We were engaged to create a digital framework for growth that serves all of DDW’s diverse target groups. At different times of the year DDW has to attract B2B contacts, generate new participants, sell tickets and be accessible to more than 2600 participants who create their own digital exhibitions - all this on one platform.
Design Time
Design is constantly in motion, reacting to what's happening in society and what needs to be redefined. To increase DDW’s online brand experience, we built the website on the foundation of Design Time. Design Time means that the website and user experience shifts throughout different phases of the year.
For DDW it’s a platform that can easily shift focus from conversion to curation to lead generation to practical programs. For participants we developed a Salesforce CRM API that gives them all the tools they need to present themselves in the best way possible.
Different phases, different user experience
The concept of Design Time influences the choices in development, content algorithm and user experience. The website algorithm for example showcases content dynamically, depending on user interaction, relevance or editorial calendars. In this way the website functions as a stable beacon for the design community throughout the year.
Smooth and serverless
From this strategic base, we are able to continuously optimise one experience at a time, shifting focus from the DDW visitor to participating designers or to enhance tools for the professional community. Thanks to our serverless environment, the digital platform is able to welcome millions of users in a fraction of a second.
In development we always focus on performance, loading time and mobile usage, enabling the possibility to welcome millions of visitors in a blink of an eye. More about the technical set-up can be found in the Dutch MagazineEmerce
Mark de Greeff, Chief Marketing Officer Dutch Design Week
A collaboration of this kind requires enormous trust in each other’s abilities. We had to build the bridge as we walked on it.
Building sensory spaces: a virtual design extravaganza
With the back-end in place, it’s the user experience where the brand Dutch Design Week comes to life. The 2020 edition was the biggest virtual design festival in the world. With the use of smart tooling like Vimeo embeds, we bypassed expensive subscription models. The real-time program moves with the program, scheduled by both the organisation as the participating designers.
750 unique experiences
The Dutch Design community could easily schedule a live stream, chat or create a digital exhibition, and add it to the digital program themselves. To create tangible experiences online, we needed to redefine what makes a space. In our research, we build upon the pioneers of virtual experiences in gaming, VR and 3D experiences like Nite Hotel by Halie.nl, Mibo App by Q42, Playbour City Engines by Tetem & De Rodina, VanMoof by Resn and Mozilla's Mixed Reality Platform.
The designers set an ambiance by playing with colours, shapes (sharp and edgy or round and warm) and the amount of light, sound and video. With a custom build interface and presets, designers can personalize their digital exhibitions with ease.
The Dutch Design community could easily schedule a live stream, chat or create a digital exhibition, and add it to the digital program themselves.
Our long-term relationship with DDW allows us to improve and iterate fast. As soon as the 2020 festival ended, we started working on the backlog for the next edition. We keep learning from the data and user feedback and continuously evaluate and evolve to make Dutch Design on Demand a reality.
Dutch Design Week
Digital concepting & strategy Campaign UX/UI Design Front-End/Back-End Development Salesforce API
Brand Identity: Yorit Kluitman & Johan Moorman
CGI: Damon van Drimmelen
Video: Blickfänger (Video)
Motion: Niels Groenendijk
Sound: Frank Sens
Headerimage: IKEA
Verve and DDW have embarked on a long-term collaboration to create a digital framework for growth. We created a platform that shifts focus throughout the year from conversion to curation to lead generation to practical programs. Online conversions have increased by 200%, and the long-term nature of our relationship allows us to improve, grow and scale the platform year by year.