Change is afoot... the new Axisweb

Digital technology is changing all the time and so must we! Sheila introduces the new Axisweb.


We’ve been dropping hints in the past few months that our website is going to change. And now it’s finally about to happen.

Why we’re changing

Our existing site is more than ten years old. We’ve refreshed the design from time to time and introduced new features, but the underlying technical infrastructure has become increasingly leviathan-like and creaky.

We decided a couple of years ago that a major overhaul was essential if we were to keep up with the latest digital trends, provide an exemplary shop window for contemporary art in the UK and attract the largest possible audience to our directory of artists. Digital technology is changing all the time and so must we!

As you can imagine, starting again from scratch has been a huge task. The process began with some inspiring user research by Sidekick Studios and has involved many debates and occasional stumbling-blocks along the way. But we’re confident it has been well worth the wait.

What’s new?

So what’s new? For a start, we’ve used open-source software, which will make the technical platform easier to maintain and develop. The site will look completely different – cleaner, more spacious and much easier to find your way around, with smoother interactions and greater clarity around the signposting.

We’ll have a new visual identity – a stencil-like ‘Axisweb’ logo which has hand-made connotations that nicely reinforce our identity as a platform for art and craft. And from now on we’ll be calling ourselves ‘Axisweb’, because that’s our web address and also the name we’re registered under with Companies House.

There will be a new browsing facility in the ‘Discover’ section of the site, as well as a more intuitive search function that will help users find exactly what they’re looking for. All the content we commission or create ourselves will be available in the new magazine-like ‘Features’ section of the site. And you’ll be able to ‘favourite’ anything you like – an artist, an article, a film – on your own personalised dashboard.

‘Joining the dots’ of the art world

Our new directory will ‘join the dots’ of the art world by allowing you to showcase all the different aspects of your professional life in one place and opening up membership to people who work with contemporary art alongside those who actually make it. So if you’re an artist, you can showcase all the other things you do (for example, curating, writing, working as an educator etc); and if you’re an art professional you can now have a profile on Axisweb too.

Above all, we hope our new website will offer artists and art professionals an excellent platform for presenting their work, with large images and elegant profile pages on which you can feature your latest news and events and links to your social media presence. As ever, enquiries and opportunities remain at the centre of what we do and we’ll be energetically promoting these services on your behalf.

Keeping your costs down

Although we’ve invested significantly in our web platform, we’ve pegged our membership fee at £28.50 per annum (£15 if you’re an ‘early career’ artist or art professional), because we appreciate how hard it is to make a living in the current economic climate.

We’re here to help

Like anything new, the site will take a bit of getting used to, but we hope you’ll get plenty of enjoyment and benefit from using it. There are many more improvements just round the corner too. But we want to see how things work before deciding what to do next. So don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’d like to tell us what you think or have any questions. We’ll be pleased to hear from you and delighted to respond.


Contributed by Sheila McGregor 
Sheila is the Director of Axisweb.

Sheila's staff profile on Axisweb