Dunedin Fine Arts Center
Digitally transforming a cornerstone of the arts scene in a vibrant coastal community
For over 50 years, the nonprofit Dunedin Fine Arts Center (DFAC) has served the lively coastal community of Dunedin, FL, bringing arts education and cultural enrichment to folks of all ages. The largest visual arts education center in the southeastern United States, DFAC hosts over 1,000 arts classes annually and boasts 50,000 square feet of space, 17 studio classrooms, seven galleries, a children’s museum, a cafe, and a gallery shop. The important work they do making art accessible to everyone is funded exclusively by donors—and their web presence is a key component in winning that support.
A fresh brand and a sleek website designed to launch a 50-year-old arts center into the future of community-centered visual arts education.
The Dunedin Fine Arts Center came to Big Sea through a client referral, seeking our team’s deep expertise in designing websites for museums and cultural institutions. They needed not only a new website but a full rebrand—and with that came a long list of requests from a robust team of highly-invested stakeholders.
Our specific objectives were to:
- Rebrand DFAC, allowing the arts center to retire a dated logo and enter a new era with a vibrant, flexible visual brand representative of the mark they make on the community.
- Design an elegant, responsive website that meets the needs of the community, making it seamless to register for classes and camps and make plans to visit the center’s art galleries and exhibits.
- Develop a nimble, custom WordPress site with an intuitive back end, allowing multiple staff members to easily add and update arts classes, exhibits, and news.
The Problem
DFAC desperately needed a facelift
Rebranding an organization that centers visual arts
When it comes to rebranding, nothing is more delicate than designing a brand for an arts organization. No pressure, right? With free rein to completely rethink DFAC’s former brand, we had the unique privilege of swinging for the fences.
Translating competing priorities into synergistic priorities
For nonprofits with a community-facing physical space, it’s easy to fall prey to a false choice:
Do we make it easy for people to visit or easy for people to donate?
Our role in this project was to balance both priorities, so that the missions of the development team and the folks on the ground teaching a thousand classes a year were equally represented and mutually reinforcing.
Meeting the needs of a lot of stakeholders
As an agency dedicated to serving mission-driven orgs and nonprofits, Big Sea is no stranger to working with a board. DFAC brought many voices to the table. Our task was to listen, synthesize, and guide the group toward strategic digital transformation.
The STRATEGY
Calling everyone in
To kick off research and discovery, Big Sea surveyed dozens of stakeholders and did a deep dive into the technical and operational requirements related to registering for visual arts classes online. We brought together a large group of DFAC team members to work through functional and design-related decisions, honoring the needs and requests of their passionate, dedicated community. (As is often the case, people enjoyed the design conversations the most. Who doesn’t love making things pretty?)
Designing a modern, fun, eye-catching brand
DFAC trusted our team to come to the table with a variety of brand directions. Very early on, we landed on the concept of a mark that could function as a pattern, providing texture and abstract depth to not only the website but to print materials, shirts, and merch. Inspired by some of the most iconic abstract art of this century, we designed a blocky mark with a clean, sans-serif font. Then, to take things a step farther into the arts space, we designed a broad and flexible color palette that gave DFAC a lot to play with.
Introducing best practices for museum websites
The DFAC team had plenty of valid complaints about their old site. Thankfully, we had plenty of strategic solutions. We designed a website that has bright visual appeal while retaining its ability to function as a neutral canvas. This way, DFAC could spotlight local artists’ work without pulling focus. At the same time, we introduced streamlined UX that paved clear pathways to searching for and registering for classes, camps, and workshops. All while centering mobile-friendliness and accessibility. Call it art.
Engaging the community, one visitor at a time
Websites for cultural institutions are like beacons and welcome mats all at once. They’re a tall order. That’s where our expertise marketing for nonprofits comes in. We helped DFAC tell their story in a way that’s authentic to their physical presence, demonstrating their impact and embodying their mission, vision, and values. It’s easier to appeal to donors when your site makes it abundantly clear that you’re doing something truly special—something that has real-world impact on both today’s and tomorrow’s visual artists.
I’m so proud of the new website. It used to be something I kind of didn’t guide people toward, which is a dangerous place to be when you’re trying to grow your brand and when you’re trying to grow your nonprofit. We needed a presence that screams ‘we are a leading visual art education center.’ And I feel like that’s something that Big Sea nailed.
Andrea NallsPresident & CEO
The Results
A digital transformation that strengthens arts access, engagement, and donor support
At Dunedin Fine Arts Center, anyone can experience art. It isn’t a cold, sterile gallery. It’s a lively home for creatives of all levels of expertise, fulfilling the needs of everyone from total beginners to the seasoned instructors who introduce learners to new forms and crafts. DFAC’s new brand and website embody that spirit of lively, unfettered creativity. We wrapped this project not only proud of our work, but honored to have made new friends in our client team after a successful collaboration. It doesn’t get any better than that.
