NLI.ie Website Design
National Library of Ireland
bigO partnered with developers Annertech to build a new website for the National Library of Ireland, replacing their outmoded existing site with a sleekly designed Drupal-based platform.
Libraries, by their nature, are complex organisations that fulfil multiple purposes to a wide user base; the National Library of Ireland, given its size and status, even more so. As such, the central principles of the website design were accessibility and flexibility.
The National Library of Ireland is undertaking a major capital investment programme which is expanding the uses of their buildings on Dublin’s Kildare Street to include many more events, exhibitions and learning opportunities for the general public, and they needed a website to provide the infrastructure for this greatly expanded element of their day-to-day.
bigO and Annertech worked closely with the staff of the National Library of Ireland to provide a website based on modular design, where different functional elements can be combined to build bespoke solutions for the National Library of Ireland’s needs without further development.
Context
bigO’s design utilised key elements of the existing National Library of Ireland branding — such as their bespoke font, their brand colours derived from the iconic domed ceiling of their Reading Room, and the nod to the radius windows present in both the NLI’s buildings and logotype — to create design as elegant as the beautiful Victorian buildings that house the National Library of Ireland on Kildare Street, with heavy emphasis on strong visuals and clear delivery of information for their broad online audience.
This website clinched a silver Shark Award for its outstanding website design, secured a gold accolade in the Spider Awards for its exceptional universal design, and emerged victorious with the Grand Prix at the Spider Awards too.
