Maciej Mackowiak

Standout Features:

• Horizontal scroll
• Parallax effects
• Evocative

The next website that tells a story is Maciej Maćkowiak, an addiction therapy specialist running his practice both in the office, by the Baltic Sea, and online. After living and spending time in various places around the globe he found peace in this secluded, nature-surrounded location. In the years prior, he battled discrimination, depression, and addiction firsthand, when nature came to the rescue and offered him a place to heal properly. This safe space is exactly what he wanted to share with his patients, so it needed to be expanded online.

Wtem created a website that focuses on telling his story with words, images, and overall design. It places Maciej himself as the so-called “hero figure” or a “vessel” for the visitor to place himself. The overall approach was “try walking in my shoes.” Maciej came through the dark times, and his patients can count to come through as well.

The on-site visuals lead from the dark, dense textures of the deep forest onto the bright, spacious beach. In the desktop version site scrolls horizontally to evoke a sense of physically moving through the forest. The parallax effect was used, not so much to wow the audience, but to showcase the physical and mental walking between the trees where one can perceive the movement of different landscape planes at different speeds.