USUS is a landscape architecture studio based in Zurich, Switzerland. Their work aims to "find a place between the familiar and the unfamliar" and their new website needed to reflect that. The webdesign, done by Pascal Botlik, is unconventional, yet intuitive to use. The page is split in two separate sections, which can be switched with a click. The first one shows an ordered list of all projects while the second one features a regularly updated stream of quotes, images or videos, reflecting the nature of USUS' work. Subpages are displayed as Modals, which can be scrolled upwards to dismiss them. A large, yellow button leads to a chatroom for every visitor to share their thoughts in. Because of the unconventional nature of the design, I needed tools flexible enough to realise all the needed features. I decided to use Next.js as a frontend framework, as its extremely performant and packed with lots of helpful features. As a CMS, I used Sanity.io. It's extremely customisable and features a responsive, React based interface. Additionally, I modified the backend to allow automatic translations of fields using the DeepL API.
Site due to launch in June 2021