In 2025, Bright Archives got a refresh. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at our website and branding overhaul.

The Journey to Our New Website

As we continue to grow, we felt it was time for a fresh new look that better reflects our mission, values, and the services we provide.

One challenge we face—one that's familiar to anyone who works with archival materials—is communicating the value of archives. The significance of historical records isn’t always obvious at first glance. Archives are sometimes seen as distant or irrelevant, often imagined as dusty shelves filled with endless boxes. We’re on a mission to change that perception.

We believe archives are vibrant, full of opportunity, and essential for strong, resilient communities and organizations.

They support storytelling, foster connections, and promote growth, transparency, and accountability. When history isn't preserved, community identities can fade, public trust can erode, and legal or administrative challenges can arise. Not to mention the missed opportunities for planning, education, and building cultural capital and long-term resources.

In short, archives are more than just records—they are the foundation for the future.

We wanted our branding to truly reflect our point of view. After spending a few months refining our mission and vision, we partnered with Woven Digital Design, a web design firm based in our community, to rethink how we present our work. We created mockups, illustrations, and style guides before handing things over to their team to refine and build our website. We’re incredibly grateful for their support throughout this process and really appreciate their collaborative spirit—it was a pleasure working with them.

Our new brand is clear, vibrant, and easy to interact with—and we’re excited to share it with you.

What’s New: Updates to Our Website and Brand

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at at three key updates we’ve made to our website and overall design.

01. Vibrant, Clear Style

Inspired by Bauhaus, Scandinavian Modern, Pop Art, and Memphis Design, we’ve made some bold updates to our look. We ditched the serif font—goodbye Georgia, hello Roboto—and we introduced a fresh pallet of bright colors.

We kept our signature “Bright Archives Blue,” adding “Folder Yellow” to complement it and “Bookend Orange” to make it pop.

We also developed a new visual language for Bright Archives, featuring modern illustrations and designs. These elements now help guide you through our website, making it easy to navigate and clearly identify our primary service areas—archives, oral history, and creative media.

02. Easy Navigation

We updated every page on our website and revamped our site architecture, with clearly labeled pages and sections that make it easier to understand where to find what you’re looking for. The organization is simpler and more logical. We’ve also added highlighted sections for important content, such as featured updates and case studies.

If you’ve been following us for a while, you know we’re big fans of storytelling through video. One of our goals was to bring more of this content to our website (instead of just on social media). Now, it’s easier to find our intro video and the FAQs video series on both our website and blog.

03. Better Services Page

We gave our services page a complete overhaul to make it more user-friendly. We put the key information right at the top so you can get to our services without endless scrolling. We’ve also simplified the service descriptions, striking a balance between providing enough detail and keeping it concise, so you can quickly understand the scope and benefits of each service.

Additionally, we’ve included case studies—which we post regularly on our blog—that highlight real-world examples of how our services have made an impact. It’s a great way to get inspired and see how others have worked with us.

To round things off, we’ve added a step-by-step overview of our process at the bottom of the page, giving you a clear picture of what to expect, from initial consultation to project delivery.

We’re Just Getting Started

The new website and rebranding is an exciting step for forward for us, but we’re just getting started.

We’re on a mission to demystify archives and bring them to life through storytelling. Every day, we’re exploring new ways to share the power and depth of archives with broader audiences. In the months ahead, we’ll be rolling out more features on our website—shaped by the real-world needs of our clients—posting fresh case studies on our blog, releasing new episodes of our FAQs video series, and more.

Stay tuned—there's much more to come, and we can’t wait to share it with you!