Strathmore®
Strathmore is a historic fine art paper manufacturer with a deep, authentic love for artists. From beginners to seasoned professionals, Strathmore creates high-quality papers, pads, and journals that support artists at every stage of their creative journey. Many members of the Strathmore team are artists themselves, which makes their commitment to the creative community more than marketing, it is cultural.
Industry: Fine Art Materials Manufacturing
Engagement: Discovery-Led Website Engagement
Project Length: ~3 months
Services Provided:
Discovery, Custom Website Design & Build
The Challenge
Strathmore came to Bright Cloud Studio with a clear concern. Their existing website felt overly corporate. While they sell primarily through distributors and retailers, the heart of their brand lives with the artists who use and love their papers.
They wanted to:
- Drive stronger demand and connection at the consumer level
- Inspire artists without alienating distributors and retailers
- Support a growing product line of artist journals and papers
- Become more visible and relevant within the artist community
Without making this shift, Strathmore risked losing mindshare to competitors who were better engaging artists directly.
“We couldn’t be happier with our relationship with Bright Cloud Studio. They are professional, quick to respond, easy to work with, and always keep us up to date on current web trends. They’ve turned our website into its own beautiful work of art worthy of representing the high quality, well-respected products our company is known for.”
— Sara Prentice, Strathmore® Artist Papers
Discovery Insights
Through the discovery process, several key insights emerged:
- Artists needed to be front and center immediately upon landing on the site
- Inspiration and real artwork should lead, not follow
- Artists needed help understanding paper quality levels and choosing the right products
- The homepage needed to flex easily to highlight new products, inspiration, and events
- The site needed to act as a hub for traffic coming from social media
At its core, the website needed to feel like it was built for artists, not just about products.
Implementation
Bright Cloud Studio worked closely with Sara and the Strathmore team through multiple collaborative sessions to define site structure, tools, and user flows.
Our process included:
- Mapping visitor journeys for both product-focused and inspiration-driven users
- Creating wireframes that clarified architecture and content hierarchy
- Developing mood boards and reviewing art-focused websites both inside and outside the industry
- Designing with restraint so the artwork and artists remained the focal point
- Honoring Strathmore’s historic brand while ensuring long-term design longevity
The result was a site that felt modern, approachable, and artist-centric without competing visually with the work it showcased.
Results & Impact
The redesigned website delivered meaningful outcomes:
- Increased engagement with artists across the site
- Growth in professional relationships with featured artists
- Significant increase in artist newsletter subscriptions
- Increased site traffic and on-site engagement
- Strong internal adoption and enthusiasm from the Strathmore team
Most importantly, the site became a living extension of Strathmore’s passion for artists.
Ongoing Partnership
Bright Cloud Studio has worked with Strathmore for approximately 15 years across multiple initiatives. This successful engagement further strengthened the relationship and led to additional work with Strathmore’s parent company, Dixon Ticonderoga, across both fine art and education brands.