Johnson Banks

The renowned design agency made waves with its striking new site; we discover the thinking behind its side-scrolling delights

Johnson Banks (johnsonbanks. co.uk) is a design consultancy that prides itself on working with brands that make a difference to the world. It brought in Dublinand Amsterdam-based agency Bong (bong.international) to create a bold new side-scrolling site that gleefully challenges web design conventions and looks entirely unlike every other agency site out there. Here’s how it happened.

What did Johnson Banks want from its new site?

KH: We really wanted something that allowed us to talk deeply about our projects. We’ve recently opened up our processes, in a book (Branding: In Five and a Half Steps) and a project (the rebrand of Mozilla, done entirely in the open). We wanted something just as transparent, that shares our work, and a lot of our thinking, with the world.

What made Bong the right team for the build?

KH: Bong are first and foremost creatives with a great design sensibility, and we really wanted someone prepared to co-design, collaborate and search for something that challenged the norm. They like to experiment and push boundaries, and the fact that they can also code like fiends helped too.

How did you arrive at the site’s side scrolling aesthetic?

KH: Our initial conversations centred around the predictability of most ‘portfolio’ sites; we knew we wanted to approach our site differently. What started as a sketch of the hierarchy of content – most important and recent at the top, older towards the bottom – morphed into a way of displaying content in ever-reducing modules.