WEB DOCUMENTARY

IKONY

IKONY aims to reveal the colour scale hidden behind the ordinary facade of ICONIC Slovak buildings from the second half of the 20th century; to uncover the stories of their creators – architects who fought a tough fight to elevate the country's society and culture.

WHAT WE DID
creative concept, art direction, graphic design,
interaction design, dramaturgy, research 

AWARDS
Awwwards Honorable Mention, 2022
Slovak National Design Award Nomination 2022

COLLABORATION: Lucia Mlynčeková
CLIENT: Archtung

IKONY – WEB DOCUMENTARY

1 · Story

The project started as a TV documentary series about Slovak architects. Each of the twelve episodes regards one architect or a duo. Every episode is created by different cinematographers resulting in a diverse experience.

The website is not just an archive for the series; it serves as the digital pilot episode that introduces the audience to the story and provides some basis for what is subsequently seen in the films. It also functions as a stand-alone work intended for the general public, who, especially after watching the documentary series, can innovatively broaden their horizons on Slovak architectural modernism.

2 · Audiovisuals

Sitting in the archives in tiny dark rooms, going through the tons of hours of VHS materials (as the libraries are not digitalized) and carefully selecting only the most exciting content was the most challenging part of the process. Nevertheless, it was also the most important as the archival videos, photographs, and original blueprints are the primary audiovisual content of the web doc.

IKONY – WEB DOCUMENTARY

3 · Design

Lucia Mlynčeková designed the project logo, icons, and visual identity, providing an outlet for further design. The exquisite shape of the letter O — which we named “telly” — has become one of the visual motifs used for interactive elements, buttons and framing of the images.

We reflected the ideas from “Shades of Grey” — the opening chapter — in the design by assigning different grey backgrounds for each chapter. For the complementary colours, we used the favourite modernist triad — red, blue, and yellow —  and extended the pallet by orange and purple.

The content scrolls horizontally, deviating from the beaten web-design path (in a way reflecting the protagonists' work) and resulting in a fascinating panorama of the story.

The telly shape with the icon button marks the interactive elements. The questions are answered in the short videos hidden on the other side of the telly. “Now and then” compares the archival and current photos of the same building. And the gallery is… well, it's just a simple photo gallery ☺.