--- title: "A custom grid for an artist's portfolio. UX case study | Sweet Lava" description: "How do you dress abstract art in a functional interface? See a website built on a flexible grid, considered typography and a custom CMS." url: https://sweetlava.eu/en/work/sebastian-wywiorski-artist-portfolio-website/ lang: en alternate_pl: https://sweetlava.eu/pl/projekty/sebastian-wywiorski-projekt-i-wdrozenie-strony-wizerunkowej/ --- Creative industries # Sebastian Wywiórski – design and build of an artist's portfolio website How do you fit abstract art into a functional interface? See a website built on a universal grid. Antonina Jasińska ·Piotr Sember ·Dr Katarzyna Cichecka ![Studio interior – a man holding an iPad, looking at Sebastian Wywiórski's website](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/pgdlccfz/production/b5cd7bc3e1dc9f1d905c00789f017da92f3516ef-3661x2067.png?w=1600&q=90&auto=format) Context Building a portfolio website for Sebastian Wywiórski meant creating a digital environment for art that constantly escapes classical definitions. Wywiórski is an interdisciplinary artist who fluidly combines traditional easel painting with mechanical elements and kinetic objects. His broad visual practice also spans large-scale spatial installations, performance pieces and experimental video art. Designing a usable interface for such a versatile portfolio required a layout that keeps a strong character of its own, yet remains merely a backdrop that puts these diverse works on display. The challenge The core challenge in unconventional projects like this one is meeting the artist's very particular expectations. An artist usually has a highly developed aesthetic sense and will certainly not settle for a standard, conventional arrangement of visual content. Working for such a client almost always pushes us to keep searching, to break familiar patterns and to experiment graphically. At the same time we have to keep hard financial realities in mind. Budgets in the cultural sector are often tight, so every process becomes the difficult art of a wise compromise. Our overriding goal was to create a unique design that brings order to something that is, by its very nature, elusive and 'unorderable'. ![Home page of Sebastian Wywiórski's website with a grid of his projects](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/pgdlccfz/production/32ed907fa3756f4a0b22b6f075f68d16666ada95-4269x2401.png?w=2000&q=90&auto=format) Home page view ## Collaboration We often take on projects together with other experienced designers. This one was developed jointly with Dr Katarzyna Cichecka. It was her idea to bring bold, oversized typography into the layout. The large letters complement the clean photography beautifully, balancing right on the edge between filled space and graphic emptiness. In the course of shared analysis, carried out in constant dialogue with Sebastian Wywiórski, we reached an important conclusion: implementing dark and light modes would be a genuinely functional step. ![Exhibitions page of Sebastian Wywiórski's website – light mode, desktop and mobile views](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/pgdlccfz/production/34966523381712350f6ee5708d870c10ba184779-3211x2401.png?w=2000&q=90&auto=format) Light mode ![Dark mode view of Sebastian Wywiórski's website – desktop and mobile](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/pgdlccfz/production/91f8874cd5d2459f3cb483fe10af4a362549a131-3211x2401.png?w=2000&q=90&auto=format) Dark mode ## The grid and CMS architecture Technically, the whole site runs on WordPress, but the key task was programming the grid itself. Piotr Sember was responsible for this area and carefully worked out the logic of the CMS modules. He built an intuitive tool that lets new subpages be created freely while keeping full flexibility. Each time, the artist's works settle into a slightly different, asymmetrical composition. This intelligent grid was essential because Sebastian's video and photo materials came in a wide range of formats. Thanks to the precision of the build we didn't have to crop anything artificially – we stayed faithful to the source materials and kept order across all the portfolio subpages. ![A laptop on blue chairs showing the (Wy)twórczość page of Sebastian Wywiórski's website in dark mode](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/pgdlccfz/production/4d1ab335de4d9162b91a9523a8497645586ef7af-5008x2828.png?w=2000&q=90&auto=format) One of the key views ### The result Designing for demanding artists lets us test the flexibility and resilience of our technical solutions in practice. We created a fully scalable digital product that handles non-standard content proportions effortlessly while preserving the precision of the designed grid. Projects like this prove that we can sensitively frame even abstract visions within a usable interface. What's more, a well-designed, carefully considered layout can be implemented at a modest cost while keeping the website original, functional and easy to use. 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Since 2019 this system has held together 50+ projects we've designed for the ensemble. Blog ## Related articles Development ### [ Web design in Kraków – how to choose a partner and what you'll really pay ](https://sweetlava.eu/en/blog/web-design-krakow-guide/) The Kraków web design market spans everything from €300 template sites to €40,000 platforms. How to compare offers, what to ask an agency, and when a local partner genuinely matters. Read article → Development ### [ A website redesign without losing your Google rankings – a migration guide ](https://sweetlava.eu/en/blog/website-redesign-without-losing-seo/) A new website doesn't have to mean a drop in Google. We show how to prepare a URL audit, a 301 redirect map and post-launch monitoring, step by step. Read article → Development ### [ How much does a website cost in 2026? A realistic pricing guide ](https://sweetlava.eu/en/blog/how-much-does-a-website-cost/) From €800 for a template site to €40,000+ for a corporate platform. 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