CLIENT
National Library of Medicine,
National Institute of Health
ROLE
Web Design
AGENCY
Astriata
Art direction by Aline Lin
The National Library of Medicine (NLM), Exhibition Program, offers exhibitions from its vast collection of historical materials as a public service. This ongoing project is taking these exhibitions and providing an online home for each of them where the public can browse and learn about the assets on display.
Each exhibition features a unique topic, set of assets, and script, and is paired with a unique design that incorporates elements of the exhibition to facilitate the storytelling of the exhibition. However, this project presents a unique set of challenges as the designs are required to retrofit an existing template and must be implanted only by swapping out images and editing the stylesheet. No HTML, jQuery, or Javascript edits are permitted.
To support the theme of this exhibition, I used a horizontal gradation of six colors overlaying a background pattern that moves from textured historical articles to a smooth background with a modern graphic structure which serves as a callback to the exhibition logo. The six colors reappear throughout the exhibition as the user scrolls through the six sections highlighting different movements within the exhibition script.
The Story of Aspirin [Revisited]
This exhibition examines the journey of aspirin, beginning with the willow bark plant and ending with the synthetic compound we now know as aspirin. To support this theme, I used many botanical elements throughout the design along with the molecular structure of the drug. As the user scrolls through each section, the primary colors slowly fade from a deep botanical green to a bright white reminiscent of the over-the-counter pill as we know it today.