Development
A speedy new search experience for cultural icon, Serpentine
Brand.
Serpentine is a world-renowned leader in contemporary arts, formed of two galleries connected by the bridge crossing Serpentine Lake, of which the galleries received their distinctive name. Serpentine South is known for the annual Pavilion architecture, the newer Serpentine North hosts a variety of exhibitions all-year-round.
Effect began working with the organisation after being commissioned to develop and deliver their new website back in 2020.
Since then, they have become one of Serpentine’s key digital partners. Working closely with the Engagement Team, our mission is to continually amplify their web presence, and ensure their prestigious history is translated online.
Most recently, Effect simplified the navigation and content, successfully driving visitor footfall at the galleries after the global pandemic.
Context.
• Role: Project Lead
• Squad: x1 Developer, x1 Designer
• Date: 2024
• Agency: Effect
BRIEF
Working with Serpentine to agree their ambitions for 2024, we formed a roadmap of site enhancements, all of which streamlined and better served content to users. The biggest driving factor behind these recommendations came from a desire to organise content in new and inventive ways, particularly on the Archive and Search.
A common challenge arts and cultural organisations face is managing the large quantities of events, exhibitions and projects collected over decades. For Serpentine, this dates back to the 1970’s, the years that coined the term ‘contemporary art’.
With the existing Search being simplistic, our aim was to make it more user-friendly and accessible, with a focus on increasing findability of key pages and content. We also uncovered a need from Serpentine to make the search logic more flexible.
RESPONSE
After understanding the landscape of how Search is used on Serpentine, but also across similar arts and cultural organisations, it was imperative that this new evolution had to be fast, responsive and most importantly useful.
From our workshops, we put forward countless enhancements. For instance: Responsive categories, displaying quantities of results, grid/list toggles and making search queries editable. Following this, we collaborated with the Development Team for technical additions, like automatic indexing, how we use AI and ways to deliver content.
There were two effective ways to bring these ideas to life, of which we chose Algolia. A globally recognised leader in search and product discovery, this powerful tool allows you to configure the ultimate experience suited to your needs.
TECHNOLOGY
Leveraging Algolia’s API provided a method for us to deliver fast, performant results in real time specifically tailored to the business needs of Serpentine Galleries.
Developing the search results was a two-part process, which involved the creation of a custom indexer and the Algolia Instant Search library to convert events, pages & Art & Ideas (and others) into functioning search results.
Ranking was determined using a custom record ‘Priority’ attribute with each result being assigned a value 1-9 based on its purpose. Working in tandem with wider ranking criteria, custom ranking was able to balance the promotion of upcoming and ongoing events whilst providing key information for specific queries.
Algolia’s Instant Search library alongside the Vue framework was used to provide an intuitive interface to quickly query and view results in a format that was suitable to the user's viewing preference.
For further detail, check out Effect’s case study coming soon.
RESULTS
We’re still collecting results from Search, and looking into incremental enhancements based on how audiences engage over the next 12 months.
Client feedback.
“A big thank you to Effect and the team for all their hard work in getting this live! We're excited to see the new version up and running.”
FREYA DOGGETT, DIGITAL MARKETING OFFICER