AIM – AI Modernism of Kharkiv (Ukraine) wins Site of the Month January 2024

Massive congratulations to OBYS AGENCY for winning Site of the Month January 2024 with AIM – AI MODERNISM OF KHARKIV, thanks for all the votes and tweets.

This AI experiment is focused on exploring the Kharkiv modernism movement, which took place from 1910 to 1930. We draw inspiration from that era's avant-garde artists and intellectuals and use advanced AI techniques to reinterpret and bring their visionary ideas to life. By leveraging modern technology, we aim to uncover new perspectives on Kharkiv modernism's artistic, architectural, and cultural legacy. The ultimate goal of this project is to introduce Kharkiv modernists to a wider audience and inspire new research on this topic globally. AIM project proposes extending the Kharkiv modernist art movement with AI to preserve its legacy.

What comes first?

At Obys, we follow a good practice to avoid burning out, it is called "Side Projects" or "Design for Love". Along with commercial projects, we also prioritize personal projects where the client is either a team member or oneself. This practice has given birth to popular projects such as Grids (Obys' first Site of the Month), Typography Principles, AAWUM, and more. Recently, our art director Viacheslav came up with an idea that he had begun exploring when the whole team was living and working in our home city, Kharkiv. The result is AI Modernism of Kharkiv.

Viacheslav had prepared a workshop for our team on a particular topic. After the workshop, the team gave him the book "In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine, 1900–1930s" and suggested that it be the topic for the next side project. A few months later, Viacheslav started exploring Mid Journey and its possibilities. The content is the most challenging part of any side project because it needs to be good without infringing on the intellectual property rights of other authors or requiring a large budget for its development.

“AIM project proposes extending the Kharkiv modernist art movement with AI to preserve its legacy."

A logotype and design idea

The design of the website and the overall project was crafted with a focus on simplicity and clarity. We employed a grid-based approach to the design, which allowed for ease of comprehension and using. We started by working on the identity of our site since we did not have a logo. We understand the importance of creating an interesting and memorable storytelling for our site. Keeping these ideas in mind, we continued to explore different options. After much experimentation, we came up with 3 large modular letters, AIM. The idea emerged that these modules could be the key to storytelling on our site, from the preloader to the different blocks.

The site's primary highlight is its seamless storytelling or scrolling, which captivated the user's attention right from the outset. The entire main page was designed to tell the story, starting with the preloader, and transforming into the logo. Finally, it took the shape of the abstract form of Gosprom, the iconic constructivist building in Kharkiv, built when these artists resided there.

The content is a king here

The development of artwork for this project was both a stimulating and demanding undertaking. Our principal aim was to produce high-quality images, and to achieve this, we employed a range of techniques. Our approach involved feeding Midjourney with a variety of artistic pieces, amalgamating them, and generating unique objects and conditions to create original artworks that were inspired by the artists. By devising this method, we were able to produce a range of high-quality images that met our objectives. We believe that by using this approach, we were able to create art that was both innovative and unique.

In parallel with the development, we prepared visual content by generating hundreds of pictures and selecting the 18 best ones. This took us about 50 hours of work.

Have you found the Gallery?

We have divided our website into four pages. The first page is the Index which showcases the main highlights of our project and encourages users to explore further. The second page is called the Experiment and it is divided into five sections, each dedicated to a great artist. On the third page, About & Credits, we provide all the technical information about the project, its creators, and sources. Finally, the fourth page, the Gallery, gives an overview of the eighteen selected artworks, displaying only imagery without any additional information.

Technologies

Despite limited resources, we chose to use Webflow for our side project development, which has provided us with numerous opportunities to bring our ideas to fruition. We were able to produce a remarkable outcome without the need for custom code or frameworks.

Company Info

Obys is a creative design and development agency based in Ukraine, specializing in creating unique graphic and web experiences for clients around the world.

More about us is here.

X: @obys_agency
IG: @obys_agency