An Online Presence After Kickstarter
Kickstarter has given life to countless projects that otherwise would have fallen by the wayside. But the fundraising phase doesn’t last forever, and projects that hit it big need to continue to have a presence where their life began: on the Internet. That means website design. Some of these Kickstarter projects have raised millions of dollars. Have they spent some of that money on high quality website design?
Believe it or not, many indie films have begun on Kickstarter. A brilliant new director pitches an idea, and people back it to see the film in production. But when the movies get their capital and develop a website to build anticipation, few give acknowledgement to investors (with a few exceptions such as KungFury and Enemy of Man). Understandably, award winning films like Bridegroom want to focus on their acclaim rather than on humble beginnings. Wish I Was Here, on the other hand, features a simple and attractive sight. It’s visually appealing and promotes the movie well with links for the trailer and for ticket purchases the most prominent. It’s designed to create interest and drive sales.
What most of us are more familiar with on Kickstarter are those great new ideas that just need the capital for a little more R&D, some testing and finally, manufacturing. Maybe designers are just more appreciative than filmmakers, but this is an industry where most products end up promoting Kickstarter on the homepage, and some in quite prominent ways. Take Lomo’Instant, for example. The Kickstarter badge is really the only thing on the homepage other than a simple picture of the product and the company name in huge font. Simple, eye-catching, and they haven’t forgotten their roots. Brydge Keyboards, however, are the exception to the gracious designer rule. They have a sales driven homepage that directly focuses on their number one product, a keyboard for the iPad Air.
Of course, some products or services that get their start on Kickstarter can’t really be categorized. Take The Masters of Anatomy for instance. It’s an art book featuring work from many talented artist. The website features 3 primary things. First of all, the book (including the release date). Second, the artists who worked on the project. Finally, and this is rare among any Kickstarter success, they advertise exactly how much capital they were able to raise with Kickstarter. Contrast that with UrbanAir, the LA art project that just features photos of the completed work with no shoutout to where the funds for said artwork came from.
In the end, Kickstarter successes go many different directions once they graduate from charity case to success story. You can even see how some industries view Kickstarter by how prominently the site is featured (filmmakers seem embarrassed while designers are proud to have had backing). Ultimately, the design of these sites will have a bearing on whether or not the projects continue to be successful in the afterlife of Kickstarter.
