Project Overview
Beyond the screen. Behind the films.
A pre-event microsite designed for SwissFilms 2025. The site delivers a story-driven experience that takes users "behind the screen" and communicates the value of attending the festival. The final direction was shaped through research into precedent designers work, analysis of existing websites and collaborative visual exploration.
The Client
SwissFilms is a nonprofit organization focused on the promotion of Swiss filmmaking to domestic and global audiences. They act as a liaison between filmmakers and film festivals, providing promotion and distribution for independent Swiss films at festivals worldwide.
SwissFilms 2025 is an annual festival featuring a lineup of independent Swiss films across shorts, documentaries, animation and fiction, held from June 21-26, 2025 at Piazza Grande in Locarno.
Problem Statement
How might we translate the depth, emotion and intent behind independent Swiss films into a compelling digital experience that captures audience interest before the event and encourages them to attend SwissFilms 2025?
Research Methodology
Research focused on identifying key design qualities and principles from precedent designers and cultural microsites to form visual and interaction decisions. Additional reference sites were analyzed for their narrative and interactive approaches, while the full SwissFilms 2025 lineup was reviewed to understand content hierarchy and uncover opportunities for audience engagement.
Precedent Research
SwissFilms 2025 Lineup Image Grouping
Key Findings & Insights
Precedent analysis of graphic designers and existing cultural microsites revealed three design qualities and two design principles that shaped the visual and interaction language of the SwissFilms 2025 microsite.
Precedent Qualities and Principles
Design Process
From poster exploration to visual identity to microsite concepts, the process is shaped through precedent study and collaborative iteration.
Poster Iterations
Graphic Assets Derived from Posters
Microsite Concept Iterations
SwissFilms 2025 Microsite Design Process
SwissFilms 2025 Microsite Final Art Direction
Design System
Typography, imagery and colour guide both emotion and navigation. Typography sets tone and directs attention. Full-bleed film imagery creates strong visual impact, while layered, reduced-opacity images add depth. Colour is used to differentiate categories, creating clear visual cues across the experience.
Navigation Through Typography
Connection Through Imagery
Colour as Category
Design Solution
Enter. Explore. Engage. Experience.
SwissFilms 2025 User Experience
Key Interactions
Throughout the entire site, a custom cursor indicates calls to action. Each interaction was designed to echo a cinematic reference.
01 Hover to Reveal Entry
A hover interaction uncovers the site title and trailers beneath film stills, creating an exploratory entry experience that sets the tone of going behind the screen.
02 Film Reel Scroll
Film genre sections are organized in a typographic stack that users scroll through to select, emulating the motion and rhythm of a spinning film reel.
03 Vertical Scroll Structure
The vertical scroll introduces each film page with lighter, familiar content such as the trailer, title, synopsis, credits, awards, and reviews, creating an easy entry into the film world.
04 Horizontal Scroll Narrative
A horizontal scroll extends the storytelling experience by shifting focus into deeper narrative layers, revealing the director's perspective and production journey, mirroring cinematic flow and the idea of memory unfolding in stages.
My Reflection
In this project, I explored how visual systems evolve through experimentation and iteration. Studying Paula Scher and Ellen Lupton grounded my decisions in design thinking, while I enjoyed experimenting with their approaches to shape a more intentional visual language.
Working from posters to identity to microsite showed me how each stage can build on the previous one, leading to a more coherent final outcome.
The challenge was working with an already strong, functional site and finding ways to bring out the emotional depth of independent films in a more expressive, cinematic way. This meant going beyond surface-level information and spending time studying interviews, trailers and film context to understand each story better.