(R)evolution of the high-load visual art web encyclopedia

Project

WikiArt.org is an online visual art encyclopedia users can edit. It can boast of more than 120 thousand artworks, up to 2.5 million visits, and about 10 million page views a month.

The encyclopedia operates in seven languages and follows the wiki principle. This means that users can instantly add and edit posts while moderators keep an eye on the changes.

The American Library Association named the project one of the 15 best free reference websites.

Industry: Art

Location: International

Challenge

The high-load web portal required new functions and increasing solution performance long before our team started working on WikiArt. The existing engine just didn't allow expanding.

The WikiArt team, who were experts in Arts Domain, also had numerous ideas and improvements waiting to be implemented. And on top of that, the portal was in desperate need of design renovation.

"A complex project like that is always riddled with technical problems. The team that was working on it demonstrated top-notch problem-solving skills. In particular, they showed flexibility in solving challenging UX/UI issues. They successfully managed performance at the peak loads after publications on Reddit, as well as constant intensive load caused by search bots. Finally, during the migration to the updated version, the team synced operations of the old and the new solutions. I definitely recommend them."

Ievgen Silin

Co-founder of Wikiart.org

Solution

Our cooperation lasted for several years and consisted of two active development phases with a stabilization and maintenance period in between.

Phase 1

In the first phase, we showed our extensive experience in application re-engineering by enhancing and re-designing the web portal's engine.

During this stage, we:

Implemented new features that prolong the customer journey, including user interaction functionality and advanced search.
Completely re-designed the UX/UI with attention to the user experience on both mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) and large screens.
Improved performance through changing the architecture and migrating to the NoSQL database.

Phase 2

The second stage started after a new owner purchased the project and brought many new ideas as well as SEO requirements.

During this stage, we:

Implemented new functions, including the video section.
Expanded the functionality of tags, and tagged 120,000+ artworks using Google AI.
Extended the localization to seven languages by adding Chinese.
Put extra effort into SEO optimization, which resulted in doubling monthly visits.

The tools and technologies we used were:

Results

Throughout the years of our cooperation, we helped WikiArt become a powerful, modern, best-in-class portal.

The achievements we're most proud of are:

Engine performance growth by 30%.
Increase of monthly visits from 1.1 to 2.3 million.
WikiArt is on the first page of Google search results for art-related queries.

Today, WikiArt is well-known worldwide and recognized as one of the most popular sources of information about art. And we were happy to help it succeed.

Telemetry service for data-driven decisions & product growth
Implementation of the new Telemetry service, which should have a significant impact on Percona's business decision process. By collecting data on how the company’s product and services were being used by clients, Percona is able to identify and prioritize new features based on user needs and improve the product development flow. This lightweight, scalable service was implemented with high quality, allowing the company to meet its product release schedule and manage its software more efficiently.
Turning unusual vision into a novel map-based web product
CyberQuantic's web application transforms a mind map with cases into an innovative map-based website with intuitive navigation. Mental maps are the primary content and navigation method with an easy-to-read visualization. The web app is integrated with CyberQuantic's knowledge base and maintains a high level of website performance. The site includes data on 600+ AI firms in Europe and 200+ open APIs, and excellent Google PageSpeed Insights ratings.
Flutter Edtech App for primary school students
A cross-platform mobile application that helps to learn the Ukrainian language to kids whose native language is Hungarian or Romanian. Developed for schoolchildren, it is simple, logical, concise, and at the same time, attractive and low resource-consuming to work fast, even on old mobile devices. The app has been created in partnership with a digital agency, "Friends of Brands", for the program of cooperation between Ukraine, Finland, and the EU aims to support the reform of the New Ukrainian School (NUSch).
Rapid MVP for the on-line mobile and web car auction
A B2B startup for car dealers who sell used vehicles across the USA via the marketplace. The developed application has a whole range of functions to support the workflows of car dealers and inspectors, like auctions workflow, live and proxy bidding, post-auction counter offering, and deal closing. The solution is integrated with different APIs to gather information about vehicles, helping dealers make the right decisions at auctions.
Admit.me: trustful cooperation in education domain for years
Admit.me is a free virtual admissions coach that offers step-by-step guides through the admissions process of the best schools. The developed solution allows for generating personalized admissions programs based on the applicant's background and goals. Admit.me provides tools and lessons designed to optimize the applicant's admissions chances by framing the applicant's thinking and informing critical admissions decisions.
A lightning-fast website for a reputable cybersec company
A cybersecurity services company Berezha Security Group rebranded as BSG in 2020. So they needed to improve their website, but redesign was only part of the story. The ultimate goal was to make the website fast and SEO-friendly, keeping its Google PageSpeed Insights scores in the green 90-100 range, what's impossible using a WordPress-like CMS approach. A static website with perfect usability, external CMS and one-click deployment functionality, and revision control successfully represents the BSG brand now.
Rapid MVP for the beauty industry mobile marketplace
Working as a committed technical partner, we strategically optimized the project scope for Best of Masters, a beauty marketplace. Utilizing the Story Mapping technique, we identified critical features and efficiently built a comprehensive MVP. The result was a platform facilitating free master registration, portfolio creation, service catalogues, location-based searches, scheduling, and booking management. Remarkably, we developed the MVP in three languages in just two months.