Unveiling KOTAverse, a new platform marking KOTA's decade-long milestone

The KOTA design agency, established a decade ago, has unveiled its latest project – the KOTAverse, a collaborative, interactive, and highly innovative microsite. This groundbreaking platform offers an immersive exploration into the agency's rich history and current status.

In 2023, to celebrate its milestone, KOTA decided to update its website and introduce the KOTAverse as a standalone project. Cyd Stumpel, a creative Web Developer based in the Netherlands, was contacted to develop the KOTAverse's site and agreed to bring her unique vision to life.

The KOTAverse is a testament to innovative design, featuring a dynamic visual timeline, with events orbiting around a central blob. Each event can be clicked on for further exploration. The static cards in the KOTAverse look dynamic due to animating some of the media inside the card in a different direction from the cards.

The development process was more complicated due to the decision not to use HTML elements for every pixel displayed on the screen. The KOTAverse's timeline was built using Three.js, a library for creating intricate 3D worlds, while the central blob is made from an interactive WebGL component called the Blob Mixer.

The interactive avatars in the KOTAverse were created using AI and Neuralframes. The 'Who We Are Now' section of the KOTAverse is contained within the KOTAverse orb (the signature blob). Users can click into the orb to 'Go Deeper,' offering an immersive exploration of the agency’s current identity and ethos.

The animated blob in the KOTAverse's background responds to the scroll direction and speed. The 'Who We Are Now' section of the KOTAverse features five content types, each represented by a 3D shape using the agency’s brand colors. Plain CSS 3D animations were used to create the cards shown when 'Going deeper' in the KOTAverse.

Greensock's GSAP library was used for adding similar easings to the (dis)appearance of elements in the KOTAverse, and Lenis was used for the virtual scrolling, making the scroll feel smoother.

Margo, a member of the design team, proposed that the five content types are actually 'elements,' with 'Our team' being the most important. The KOTAverse is now live and the team is excited to share it with the community.