Every picture tells a story on National Gallery’s site

The National Gallery this week launches a website created by Nykris and designed to encourage primary school teachers across Britain to use paintings to inspire their creative teaching.

The site, www.takeonepicture. org/nesw, is a part of the gallery’s Take One Picture: North, East, South, West project.

Funded by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the programme is a nationwide partnership and links three galleries – London’s National Gallery, the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery and The Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle.

The site provides information about the scheme and resources for teachers and also includes an on-line exhibition of work created by schools taking part in the project.

According to Nykris art director Catherine Bates, who was creative lead on the project, the group was briefed to create a site that would communicate key messages of ‘fun, inspiration and working in partnership’.

The challenge was creating a site that would ‘inspire and inform’ primary school teachers, but is also easily accessible for children who want to view work they have created, she adds.

‘Being mindful of the audience we pulled back some of the more creative ideas and limited graphic elements of the navigation to make it simple to use, with real ease of access,’ says Bates.

Branding was also a consideration, as the site needs to encompass branding from the three galleries, the DCMS and the project itself. It uses a colour palette that combines the National Gallery green and ‘strong orange and blues’ to distinguish the individual galleries, says Bates.

The site encompasses a content management system that allows participating galleries to upload children’s work.

A further element, in the form of an interactive, on-line game, is planned for the future.

Nykris was appointed to the project in late November following a three-way pitch.