a living atlas for the future of museums
One of the Netherlands' most iconic museums asked a big question: how do you make exhibitions without costing the earth?
The Atlas of Future Exhibitions is their answer, an open guide for the whole museum sector. Together with a creative agency in Amsterdam, I helped shape the design and built the entire site in Webflow.
challenge
Making an exhibition is, by definition, not sustainable. That's the honest starting point of the project, and the site had to carry that weight. It needed to hold a manifesto, in-depth dossiers, practical tools, a full register and an agenda, in two languages, while feeling like a place you want to explore rather than a report you have to read. And it had to keep growing as new insights come in, without the structure falling apart.
approach
The idea of an atlas guided every decision. Not a website you scroll through, but a map you find your way in. I worked closely with the designer to translate that concept into something that actually works on a screen, testing what was possible in Webflow early so the boldest ideas could stay in. The content was set up in the CMS so the museum can add dossiers, tools and events themselves, and the atlas keeps evolving long after launch.
design
Far from your typical museum website. A visible coordinate grid runs across the pages like the lines on a map, with oversized typography cut into the background and a living cloud of blue dots drifting through the layout. Content sits inside that grid as if it were plotted on a chart. Calm, bold and unmistakably its own.
build
Built entirely in Webflow, from the grid that holds every page together to the animated dot cloud and the welcome screen that opens the atlas. Every section is responsive, so the grid holds up just as well on a phone as on a big screen. The CMS powers the dossiers, register and agenda, and the whole site works in both Dutch and English.
result
A living atlas for the museum sector, launched by Het Scheepvaartmuseum and supported by Mondriaan Fonds. A creative concept that made it all the way to the browser without compromise, and a platform that keeps growing with every new insight.
