Clifton Multi-sensory Art Experience Website Redesign

A digital experience as accessible as the art itself.

The Multisensory Art Experience is a permanent, free public installation in Clifton, across from the Kentucky School for the Blind. Louisville Visual Art (LVA) needed a website that would encourage people to visit while serving blind, low-vision, and sighted audiences equally.

That meant balancing rich visual storytelling with screen reader accessibility, making the site easy to use on a phone at the installation, and creating something that added to the physical experience instead of replacing it.

The Approach

We designed around the ways people would actually use the site: planning a visit, learning the story behind the installation, or listening while standing in front of the tactile mosaic.

Accessibility shaped the site from the start. Clear heading structure, keyboard-friendly navigation, descriptive alt text, high-contrast typography, audio descriptions, and full transcripts give visitors multiple ways to engage with the work.

The content was also built to carry more than a literal description of the artwork. Poetic Alt text and supporting audio help communicate the meaning and stories within the mural, so the experience isn't limited to what can be seen.

Creating a digital companion to the wall.

The physical installation inspired the look and feel of the site. Made up of 10,000 individual tiles, the wall is tactile, layered, and filled with small details that come together to tell a much bigger story. We brought that same character online through close-up photography, layered layouts, and custom shapes inspired by the installation itself.

The audio experience was just as important. Rather than embedding a standard audio player, we built the site in React with Next.js and created a custom player that continues uninterrupted as visitors move from page to page. That lets someone listen to the story of the installation while exploring the artwork at home or standing in front of the wall.

Accessibility informed those choices throughout. Descriptive alt text captures the meaning and symbolism within the artwork, while transcripts, keyboard-friendly navigation, strong contrast and readable type give visitors different ways to experience the content.

We kept the site intentionally compact so the art and photography could do the heavy lifting. Client-side navigation and preloaded pages keep it fast despite the imagery, while CSS clip paths bring shapes from the physical installation into the site itself. And because many visitors arrive by scanning a QR code at the wall, the entire experience was designed to work just as well on a phone, outdoors, as it does at home.

The Outcome

The finished site works as a companion to the Clifton Multisensory Art Experience: helping people plan a visit, understand the artwork, and experience its story in the way that works best for them.

And users visiting the site are engaged. Nearly 40% of visitors scroll through 75% of the page before moving to a new section, and 6% listen to the audio tour while navigating the site. While “multisensory art” is a newer term to the art world, LVA’s website leads on search engines for the term.

By making accessibility part of the design process from the beginning, LVA's digital experience reflects the same inclusive spirit as the installation itself.

Have a project where accessibility is more than a compliance checkbox? That's our wheelhouse. Get in touch and let's see what we can make together.