Gezelle.be & The Webby Awards
The many positive reactions confirmed it: gezelle.be is a beautifully designed, stylish and modern site. The designers, Digital Agency Glue, submitted the site for the Webby Awards 2021, a leading international award.
The Webbys
Established in 1996 during the Web’s infancy, The Webbys is presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. The Academy is comprised of Executive Members—leading Internet experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities—and Associate Members who are former Webby Winners, Nominees and other Internet professionals. The award is honoring excellence on the Internet. Digital Agency Glue chose to submit Gezelle.be for this international award. The winners will be announced in May.
Contemporary Design
Gezelle.be wants to emphasize today's value of the historical poet Guido Gezelle and his poetry. That is why the Gezelle Archives opted for contemporary colors and design. Much attention was paid to the homepage with the image of Gezelle's poem Slender Reed and the striking letters, stylish details such as the navigation arrows and the subtle movement on the landing pages. Highlights are the timeline, the Gezelle tiles, the slides, the biographical gallery... The attractive look gives the heritage material a facelift.
Creative Ways to Communicate
Gezelle is a well-known 19th-century poet. Nevertheless, his reality and ours seem to be far apart and introducing him to the 21st century is not easy. So we are always searching for modern and creative ways to communicate on gezelle.be. For example, we translated the scientific letter edition into a real WhatsApp conversation and we are bringing the ancient letters alive through sound and image. You can even discover how Gezelle must have looked like as a child through artificial intelligence. So we tackled the dusty image of the photo of the old poet in a playful and surprising way. And we are not searching for Waldo in Bruges but for Guido in the cartoon of Marec.
Contemporary Experience
Gezelle.be introduces the public to Gezelle's literary legacy and makes the poet socially relevant. We use the storytelling approach to tell the story of Guido Gezelle. Thousands of documents from the Gezelle Archives - letters, poetry manuscripts, linguistic notes, etc. - come to life in stories, quotes, sound, film and beautiful photo's in galleries. All this with special attention to the design.
Co-Creation
At least as important as the platform itself is the process by which it was created. More than a hundred people participated: professors, artists, teachers, students and even pre-schoolers. The Dutch version of gezelle.be also has educational laboratories.
