Schifino Lee takes unusual design approach to showcase photography on website

To better capture the essence of its photography exhibits and complement its new location, the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts (FMoPA) commissioned Tampa branding agency Schifino Lee to create a new website for the nonprofit museum.

The new site, www.FMoPA.org,, coincides with the museum’s move into a new downtown location this month. The website is meant to serve as an extension of the museum and offer a flavor of the displayed work for potential visitors and donors, including the Tampa Bay area’s growing class of creative professionals.

The site also describes how the museum — in addition to its historic and contemporary exhibits of internationally known photographers — offers an array of events, classes, membership programs, and community outreach activities.

With an untraditional look-and-feel and atypical navigation, visitors open the site to see eye-catching photography take over the computer screen. “This was a different approach than what’s often used in web design, and the visual power of the site is tied to its simplicity,” said Schifino Lee Creative Director Evan Brownstein. His team creatively and thoughtfully selected big, beautiful images “designed to make the photography the star,” he said.

Founded in 2001 as the Tampa Gallery of Photographic Arts, the museum was renamed in 2006 to better describe its purpose and mission of “exhibiting important photographic art as central to contemporary life and culture.”

The museum has recently relocated a few downtown blocks from N Tampa Street to Rivergate Plaza, located at 400 N Ashley Drive. The museum occupies the second and third floors of Rivergate’s architecturally significant Cube, a highly visible location in the heart of the Downtown Tampa Arts District.

About FMoPA

The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts is a museum dedicated to exhibiting important photographic art as central to contemporary life and culture.ÊFMoPA collects, preserves and exhibits historic and contemporary works by nationally and internationally known photographic artists. FMoPA also enriches the community by operating outreach programs to educate children and adults.