We’ve been working with Midlands Arts Centre – affectionately known as MAC – since 2013, on all sorts of design and digital projects.

Originally opened in 1962 as an arts centre for young people, MAC’s programme and remit has expanded enormously since then. So, they needed to better represent the more grown-up, business-focused aspects of the organisation, without losing their essential playfulness and fun.

Brand identity

We created an identity that can be used at many different volumes: quiet and understated for the visual arts crowd; loud and colourful for family audiences.

By deconstructing the logo, we get the simple shapes which are used to lift and enliven the identity. These graphics reference the Swiss school of design, which began to emerge in the '60s – just as MAC first opened its doors.

Website

Our first iteration of the MAC website was also our first Spektrix-integration.

With over 300 events every week, the venue is one of the heaviest users of the Spektrix API, so we did some clever integration. Not least, wrangling data to display course instances on the website in a simple, user-friendly way.

A core aim of the website is to be more business-focused – specifically increasing ticket sales, boosting support campaigns, and presenting commercial offers more clearly. We also paid particular attention to the user journey on mobile – building the first ever fully-mobile Spektrix booking process with a seat picker.

In 2018 the website underwent a major redesign, to match MAC’s revamped visual identity and improve specific areas of functionality. This included changes to the Course Finder, to help people more easily and intuitively browse the hundreds of courses taking place at MAC every year.

Always looking for smart ways to make the most of technology, MAC's website also powers the digital screens around the venue. Using the website as a central digital 'hub' for information reduces admininstration time, and gives both website and venue visitors the most up-to-date listings, promotions and notifications.

We continue to work in close partnership with MAC – regularly reviewing the website, and iteratively improving features and functionality.

Midlands Arts Centre website