ICON: Why are you relaunching Architonic?
Martin Zelger: Nothing ever stands still in the online world. Technologies change. And the needs of users change, too. From the start, Architonic has developed digital solutions for architects and other design professionals. So, now, as the internet has moved away from asking questions to providing answers, we’ve harnessed AI to create the new industry standard in design-product search and discovery, as well as collaboration.
ICON: What’s new for users exactly?
MZ: In short, we’ve transformed Architonic from platform to tool. Beyond a complete redesign, we’ve delivered a whole new user experience. More intuitive, more productive, more collaborative, more inspiring – and, hopefully, more fun.
ICON: Can you tell us more?
MZ: At its core, there are four main changes: First off, the search experience is now AI-powered. Keyword search is gone. Semantic, multimodal search is now in its place. You can search using text or images, or both – and even search within images. And in multiple languages. This means creatives can now find the products and materials they need effortlessly.
Secondly, we now offer an unparalleled completeness of product information. This was important to us. Architects and other professionals need rich and relevant data on products – dimensions, colours, variants, configurations, certificates – and we’re providing this. And always up to date thanks to our new Live Link technology.
What’s more, we’ve created something called Architonic Studio, where users can set up their project lists, save favourites, create mood boards and share with colleagues and other collaborators. Super smart and useful.
And, lastly, we’ve plugged Architonic into popular design and collaboration boards like Figma and Miro, as well as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, and GoogleSlides. And later this year, a number of 3D design and collaboration software programmes will be added to the list. Architonic is, therefore, no longer just a website; we’ve gone where the architects do their daily work.
ICON: And what’s in it for design brands?
MZ: Well, an even greater opportunity for our partners to have their products found – and specified – both on Architonic, as our search performance is truly next level, and on their own websites, as we drive more traffic directly to their product pages, too.
And we’re also super-charging our existing DAAily insights service, which will not only allow brands to see which of their products are being viewed and where, but also give them valuable insights in how their products are being planned with, for what types of projects, with which other brands they are combined, and so on. This is rich, next-level stuff! architonic.com
