Dance on Camera

Context & Challenge
Dance on Camera (DOC), the world’s longest-running dance film festival, brings together the artistry of choreography and the power of cinema. Despite their rich legacy, their website had fallen behind—outdated, difficult to navigate, and unable to support the growing needs of their annual festival, programs, and community engagement. They needed a modern digital home that matched their reputation and could evolve with them year after year.

What They Needed

• A clean, professional site design that reflects DOC’s artistic stature.
• A central hub to showcase films from each year’s festival and enable ticketing.
• A simplified donation system to support ongoing programming.
• Clear, user-friendly pages for programs like Dance Film Labs, Production Grants, and Festival submissions, with easy participant sign-up.
• A content management approach that empowered DOC to update the site themselves as new content rolled out each season.

My Approach & Process

1. Discovery & Strategy
   • Reviewed DOC’s festival and program offerings and clarified distinct user needs for audiences, filmmakers, and donors.
   • Mapped a site architecture that supported intuitive navigation between yearly festival content, program sign-ups, donations, and film submissions.
2. Wireframing & User Flow
   • Designed wireframes with clear user journeys: discovering films → purchasing tickets, exploring programs → signing up, donor engagement → seamless giving.
   • Structured reusable templates to ensure the site stayed consistent even as new content was added.
3. Design & Visual Branding
   • Developed a clean, modern visual style—elegant typography, whitespace-driven layouts—that reflected DOC’s professional ethos and high-art programming.
   • Ensured each page felt polished while remaining flexible for future content.
4. CMS Implementation & Training
   • Built the site on an intuitive CMS with modular templates for film showcases, program listings, and donations.
   • Trained the DOC team on how to manage and update content year after year while keeping the layout cohesive and professional.

Results & Impact
The redesign gave Dance on Camera a fresh, modern site that not only looked professional but also worked seamlessly across their complex needs: showcasing films, selling tickets, promoting programs, and accepting donations. Most importantly, the site empowered their team to keep everything updated annually, creating a sustainable digital foundation that continues to support both the festival and the broader dance film community.