Pequot Library Website
What We Did
Check it out.
Pequot Library is a historic cultural institution founded in 1894, housed in a landmark Romanesque building in Southport, Connecticut — part lending library, part museum, and entirely one-of-a-kind. They came to us ready for a digital presence that could match what visitors experience the moment they walk through the door.
Project Goals
The existing site struggled to serve the library’s range of audiences: first-time visitors discovering programming and exhibitions, loyal patrons managing holds and accounts, and community members looking to support the institution. The goal was to simplify a crowded navigation, organize content around clear audience needs, and build a site that communicates Pequot’s cultural significance while making everyday library tasks genuinely easy. The result needed to feel as welcoming and alive as the building itself.
Quiet, rich & a little grand
Design
Inspired by leading museums and cultural institutions, the redesign gave Pequot a visual identity as considered as its collections. A new color palette pairs pale blacks and warm greys with brick-inspired oranges against a cream background, striking that rare balance of modern calm with a pop of richness. An illustrative mark of the library’s own Romanesque architecture adds a layer of character that no stock element could replicate. An elegant serif adds distinctiveness to every page, complemented by a classic sans that adds a clean and approachable feel. Thin strokes guide the eye through content, custom icons add visual clarity throughout, and photography of the building and its details makes the cultural experience impossible to miss before a visitor ever arrives.
Where every page has a purpose
Content Strategy
Competitive research guided every structural decision, drawing on how other cultural institutions balance rich programming with practical library tools. From that research, we built a content hierarchy around six primary pillars: About, Plan Your Visit, Event Calendar, Special Collections, Support the Library, and Borrow — each anchored in a distinct audience need. Secondary pages like Our Team, Exhibitions, Education, and Find a Book were organized beneath them, reducing decision overload without burying what patrons come looking for most. Quick-access links to high-traffic destinations appear in both the utility navigation and footer, so returning visitors can accomplish tasks without retracing their steps. Every section balances storytelling with function.
