Overview
Scientific institutions don't need websites that look impressive in screenshots. They need platforms that handle complex data structures, preserve scientific accuracy, and communicate credibility to peer reviewers, funding committees, and partners. We build sites for biotech companies, university labs, and organizations where one misplaced decimal or unclear methodology description can undermine years of work.
Data Integrity Over Visual Flair
Scientific website design must present findings, datasets, and experimental protocols without interpretation errors. We structure content so complex information remains accessible while maintaining hierarchical clarity. Interactive charts, graphs, and visualizations load quickly and scale properly across devices without distorting data relationships.
Multi-Level Audience Navigation
Your site serves principal investigators, graduate students, industry partners, and grant administrators simultaneously. Each group needs different entry points to the same information. We design navigation systems that let a potential collaborator find your latest academic journal publication while a prospective PhD candidate explores laboratory culture and current projects.
Citation and Attribution Architecture
Scientific work requires proper sourcing. We build CMS structures that handle bibliographic data, DOI links, author attribution, and version control for publications. When you update a preprint to reflect peer review, the system maintains both versions with clear timestamps and change logs.
Compliance and Accessibility Standards
Federal funding often requires WCAG 2.1 AA compliance and Section 508 adherence. We build this into the foundation rather than retrofitting it later. Screen readers must navigate complex tables accurately. Color-blind scientists need to interpret your data visualizations. These aren't optional design features for scientific institutions.
Why Generic Agencies Struggle With Science Web Design
We've rebuilt sites where previous designers treated papers like blog posts and laboratory equipment like product shots. The disconnect shows immediately to scientific audiences. Most agencies optimize for engagement metrics—time on page, scroll depth, emotional response. Scientific web design demands different success criteria. A scientist who quickly finds your methodology section and leaves satisfied represents success, not bounce rate failure.
Treating Technical Information Like Marketing
Dumbing down scientific language to "improve readability" destroys precision. When a biotech company describes their CRISPR delivery mechanism or a physics lab explains quantum coherence experiments, accuracy matters more than Flesch-Kincaid scores. We preserve technical specificity while improving content structure. One client in gene therapy needed to explain their AAV vector modifications—simplifying this for "general audiences" would have eliminated the precise details that attract qualified partners and investors.
Ignoring Data Update Workflows
Research institute teams publish continuously. Your site needs systems for embargo management, coordinated announcements across departments, and automated updates to profiles when new papers publish. Standard CMS setups don't handle these workflows. We built a system for a university neuroscience department that pulls publication data from PubMed, cross-references ORCID profiles, and automatically updates pages within 24 hours of journal publication—reducing administrative work by approximately 12 hours monthly.
Missing Integration Requirements
Scientific organizations use specialized tools—protocol repositories like protocols.io, grant management systems, lab information management systems. Your website must connect to ORCID, PubMed, institutional repositories, and collaboration platforms. Most agencies lack experience with these integrations or treat them as optional add-ons rather than core infrastructure.
Neglecting Long-Term Maintenance Realities
Academic web teams often have limited technical resources. We build responsive sites that marketing coordinators or graduate assistants can update safely without breaking complex layouts or data relationships. This requires careful CMS configuration and documentation that most agencies don't provide because it's time-intensive work with no visible portfolio value.
Oversimplifying Content Structure for Complex Science
A pharmaceutical research institute approached us after their previous site buried peer-reviewed publications three clicks deep while prominently featuring generic "innovation" messaging. Their target audience—directors at potential partner institutions—couldn't quickly assess their scientific credibility. Conversion rate for partnership inquiries sat at 0.8%. We redesigned their site to surface publications, methodology documentation, and collaborative project data on the homepage. Within six months, qualified partnership inquiries increased to 3.2% conversion rate—a 300% improvement driven purely by respecting how scientific audiences evaluate institutional credibility.
Types of tasks
Our diverse team has experience designing almost anything your business might ever need.
When Our Science Website Design Approach Works (and When It Doesn't)
Webflow Handles Most Scientific Content Needs
We use Webflow for most science web design projects, but it's not universal. The platform excels at visual flexibility and content management for teams without developers. For a facility publishing 40-60 papers annually, Webflow's CMS handles publication databases, author profiles, and automated cross-referencing efficiently. Performance stays strong even with image-heavy portfolios—average load times around 1.4 seconds compared to 3-4 seconds we see on WordPress installs with equivalent content.
Backend Integration Limitations Require Alternatives
The compromise: complex backend integrations require third-party tools. Connecting to institutional LIMS systems or automated data feeds from lab equipment needs Zapier, Make, or custom API development. This adds architectural complexity. For organizations needing real-time data synchronization between lab systems and public-facing sites, custom development on frameworks like Next.js might serve better. We're transparent about these limitations during discovery. Our capacity is limited—we take on 8-10 scientific web projects yearly, and we won't recommend Webflow if your requirements exceed what the platform handles gracefully.
Our Platform Selection Framework
The decision framework is straightforward: if your primary need is presenting research outputs to external audiences—publications, team profiles, project showcases, funding announcements—Webflow delivers faster and more cost-effectively than custom builds. If your site needs to function as an interface layer between internal lab systems and public stakeholders, with live data feeds and complex user permissions, we'll likely recommend a different approach from the start. This saves both parties from mid-project pivots when technical requirements collide with platform constraints.
Trusted by Innovators in Science
Our Approach to Scientific Website Design Projects
We work with limited project capacity by design. Not every organization fits our process, and we're selective about where we invest time. Here's what successful collaborations look like.
Deep Content Audit Before Any Design Work
We spend 2-3 weeks mapping your content structure before proposing layouts. What areas need prominent placement? Which publications drive the most collaboration inquiries? Where do prospective students spend time? We analyze your existing analytics, interview stakeholders across departments, and identify content patterns that reveal what actually matters to your audiences versus what you assume matters—whether that's conference presentation archives, scientific blog content, or collaborative opportunities.
Structured Data From Day One
Scientific content has inherent structure that generic CMS setups ignore. We build custom content types for papers, lab members, equipment, protocols, and datasets with proper metadata fields—publication date, DOI, funding source, category, author affiliations. This makes content reusable across sections and enables automated features like profile updates when new publications appear in connected databases.
Performance Optimization for Data-Heavy Pages
Scientific sites often include high-resolution microscopy images, scientific infographics, interactive protein visualizations, or embedded computational tools. We implement progressive loading, lazy rendering, and efficient caching so your audience—often accessing from institutional networks with security restrictions—experiences fast load times. Target metrics: under 2 seconds for initial page load, under 0.5 seconds for subsequent navigation.
Training for Non-Technical Teams
We document every system we build and conduct hands-on training sessions spanning 3-4 hours across multiple days. Your team should feel confident updating content, adding new projects, and managing routine site maintenance. When specialized changes are needed—restructuring navigation, adding new content types, modifying automated workflows—we provide ongoing support for complex updates.
Incremental Rollout With Stakeholder Input
Academic institutions have many voices—department heads, IT administrators, communications teams, individual scientists. We stage releases in phases, gathering feedback from different stakeholder groups before full deployment. This design process prevents the political conflicts that derail academic web projects when one powerful faculty member discovers something they dislike after launch.
We always deliver.
Proven by our work.
Trusted by people.
Frequently Asked
Questions
You’ll probably find an answer to your question here. If you’re still not sure or want to clarify something, just drop us a line at hello@celerart.com. Whether you need creative web design builders, we’re here to help.
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