Illinois MakerLab · Redesign Design studies · October 2026

Five homepage directions

A state-of-the-art lab deserves a state-of-the-art site.

Five complete homepage studies for the Illinois MakerLab, the world’s first business school 3D printing lab, rebuilt around its new all-Bambu Lab fleet. Every study uses the same real content: the full fleet, the donor credit, current pricing, Fall 2026 hours with a live open/closed status, programs, news and reviews. Open each one on a phone too; they are all fully responsive.

  • Fleet7 Bambu Lab printers
  • Models2× H2S · 2× H2C · 2× X2D · 1× X1C
  • DonatedH2C, X2D & X1C, by Xu & Ning
  • LabBIF Room 3030 · Gies
  1. makerlabwebdemo3/01-grid
    Grid homepage: a giant Learn. Make. Share. staircase on paper white with an orange order button.

    01Swiss typographic

    Grid

    A museum catalogue for a machine shop.

    An expressed 12-column grid where type is the imagery: huge real numbers, hairline rules, and Illinois Orange used once, decisively.

    • “Make.” is printed layer by layer by an orange nozzle
    • All four build volumes drawn to scale, driven by the fleet table
    • Press G to lay the 12-column grid over the page
    Type
    Inter Tight · JetBrains Mono
    Color
    Open Grid
  2. makerlabwebdemo3/02-keynote
    Keynote homepage: a dark hero where a glowing nozzle prints a vase beside Learn. Make. Share.

    02Dark cinematic launch

    Keynote

    The new fleet, launched like flagship hardware.

    A part prints itself on a live canvas, glowing orange where the plastic is still hot. A pinned scroll then steps through every model’s headline specs.

    • Real-time canvas print with a cooling heat gradient
    • Pinned scroll story: H2S, H2C, X2D, X1C
    • An engraved glass plaque for Xu & Ning
    Type
    Geist · Geist Mono
    Color
    Open Keynote
  3. makerlabwebdemo3/03-blueprint
    Blueprint homepage: a navy drawing sheet with a dimensioned line drawing of an H2S printer and orange redlines.

    03Engineering drawing

    Blueprint

    One drawing sheet, from fleet to front door.

    The whole homepage is a technical drawing: a zoned frame, section markers and Illinois Orange redlines, with every number dimensioned.

    • Build volumes of the fleet drawn to scale, selectable by model
    • Hours as a live timing diagram with a NOW cursor
    • Bill-of-materials pricing and a calculator that shows its math
    Type
    IBM Plex Sans Condensed · Plex Mono
    Color
    Open Blueprint
  4. makerlabwebdemo3/04-atelier
    Atelier homepage: a cream magazine cover with a serif Illinois MakerLab masthead and a still life of a printed vase and filament spool.

    04Warm editorial

    Atelier

    The lab as the Fall 2026 issue of a magazine.

    Warm paper, expressive serif italics and a story told since 2013: a cover still life, a three-column feature, and prices set like an atelier menu.

    • A generative still life: printed vase, filament spool, contour layers
    • An ex-libris bookplate for the gift from Xu & Ning
    • Reviews typeset as letters
    Type
    Instrument Serif · Alegreya · Inter
    Color
    Open Atelier
  5. makerlabwebdemo3/05-filament
    Filament homepage: bold Learn. Make. Share. with an orange sticker, and bento cards in cobalt, yellow and pink with hard black shadows.

    05Neo-brutalist maker pop

    Filament

    Loud, joyful, and built to be played with.

    For students, campers and birthday kids as much as researchers: bento cards, hard shadows, spool-bright colors and real interaction.

    • The fleet as trading cards, “Collect all 7”, with holo donor seals
    • A filament picker that reprints a layered vase
    • A receipt-style live price calculator
    Type
    Bricolage Grotesque · Space Grotesk
    Color
    Open Filament