When it first opened in December 1925, The Dundee Theater operated as a cozier alternative to the large movie palaces in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Over the years, the movie theater—at different times—showed the standard Hollywood fare as well as independent and foreign films. Now, the Omaha-based nonprofit organization Film Streams seeks to revitalize the theater for its reopening in 2018. As part of a larger campaign to raise awareness of this revitalization, designer Justin Kemerling of Justin Kemerling Design Co. and developer Cody Peterson of Human Shapes created this digital call to action to raise donations for the new Dundee Theater. 

The site’s design draws inspiration from the typography of old theater marquees, the imperfections inherent in the processing of film and the gritty texture of the current condition of the theater itself. “We played with light and shadow in several different animation treatments for the dimensional type that also called out the main objectives of the campaign,” says Kemerling. Typographic animations, concise background content and clear calls-to-action at every important stopping point all work together to inspire interest in visitors and get them excited about the reopening of Omaha’s historical theater.