IISS
A new website for peace and security leadership
The International Institute of Strategic Studies has been advancing global peace and security since 1958 through carefully researched facts and incisive analysis.
IISS needed a versatile website to present their latest insights, whitepapers, thought-pieces and events. For important publications, we incorporated a paywall to encourage conversion and registration.
The key focus was to deliver a pleasurable reading experience. Exploration into fonts, typographic scales and page hierarchy helped shape this experience. It was important that each page functioned well and looked appealing even without an image.
'Playfair Bold' was chosen as a heading font, it's classical serif style helps reflect the heritage and authority of IISS. Used mainly for page headings, the weight and size of this font creates a key focal point that aids the eye down the page. For the body copy, we chose Noto Serif, a google developed font designed to translate into almost all known characters, perfect for an organisation with a multinational reach.
We were able to determine that traffic to the IISS site spiked during important events, such as the Shangri-La Dialogue. Therefore we designed a flexible homepage that allows a key event 'take over'. During the Shangri-La Dialogue, the homepage accommodates hour by hour updates, tweets and videos from the event. This gave IISS the opportunity to serve the latest, relevant content to their users.
