At Forum One, we create innovative digital solutions that empower our clients to deliver exceptional user experiences. One of the most effective tools we’ve developed to achieve this is Gesso, an open-source front-end starter kit and design system, built entirely in-house by the Forum One team. Because Gesso was created from the ground up by our seasoned experts, it’s uniquely designed to meet the needs of mission-driven organizations. 

Gesso is built with a focus on accessibility, performance, and scalability—ensuring our clients get a foundation that supports inclusive, visually cohesive websites and applications. Whether we’re working with platforms like Drupal, WordPress, or Contentful, Gesso enables our team to work more efficiently, while maintaining the flexibility to meet each project’s unique requirements. This allows us to deliver solutions that are both innovative and closely aligned with our clients’ goals.

What is Gesso?

Gesso is much more than a set of front-end components. It’s a comprehensive design system that integrates best practices in accessibility, flexibility, and performance optimization. Designed with mission-driven organizations in mind, Gesso helps clients like government agencies and nonprofits build fast, accessible, and scalable websites that meet today’s web standards.

Customizability and Flexibility: The Art Behind Gesso

Gesso is named after the primer artists used to prepare a canvas for painting. Just as gesso in the art world creates a foundation for creativity, Forum One’s Gesso is designed to be a flexible framework that can be built upon and customized. It comes with pre-built components, but it’s intentionally crafted to be extended and adapted to meet specific design, branding, and functional needs. Whether an organization has unique accessibility requirements or wants to add custom features, Gesso can be molded to fit their vision.

This level of flexibility means Gesso is not a one-size-fits-all solution—it’s a starting point that grows and adapts with each project’s unique needs. Whether you’re building a small website or a complex portal, Gesso offers the versatility to scale.

In 2024, Forum One partnered with the Smithsonian to launch Kaleidoscope, a cross-museum experience focused on resilience, designed to engage Millennials and Gen Z. The digital experience was built using Next.js, Contentful, and our Gesso Next.js starter kit.

Key Features of Gesso

• Accessibility-First Design: Gesso is designed to fully comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Features like keyboard navigation and screen reader compatibility are built-in from the start, ensuring inclusivity without added development costs for accessibility features.
• Performance-Optimized Architecture: In today’s digital world of mobile-first expectations, slow websites just don’t cut it. Gesso’s architecture is designed to minimize load times, which means faster performance and better SEO. By leveraging modern techniques like lazy loading and responsive image handling, Gesso ensures a smooth experience even on slower networks. 
• Component-Driven Development with Storybook: Gesso integrates with Storybook, a tool that lets developers build and test UI components in isolation. This allows for faster development, easy scalability, and better collaboration among teams. Storybook also provides live documentation, giving clients transparency and control over component approval.
• Platform Flexibility: Gesso is highly adaptable and supports various platforms:
  • Drupal and WordPress: Dedicated themes for both Drupal and WordPress platforms allow us to quickly develop and deploy websites.
  • Next.js: For decoupled web applications, Gesso offers a Next.js version, usable as a stand-alone front-end or integrated with a headless CMS for greater flexibility.
  • U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) Integration: For government clients, Gesso integrates with USWDS, ensuring compliance with federal standards.

Forum One partnered with the EPA to redesign and modernize epa.gov, using the USWDS version of Gesso. The solution, built on Drupal, supports hundreds of websites and 300+ content managers, with a focus on scalability, efficiency, and Section 508 compliance. 

How Gesso Sets Your Website Apart

Gesso offers significant advantages for clients, starting with its emphasis on inclusive user experiences. Many organizations struggle with accessibility, but Gesso’s pre-built, accessible components make it easy to launch websites that are usable by everyone right from the start, avoiding costly retrofits or remediation.

Additionally, Gesso’s customization capabilities allow it to be tailored to the unique needs of each client. Whether it’s a government agency with strict compliance standards or a nonprofit with specific design guidelines, Gesso provides a foundation that can be built upon. This means organizations are not locked into a rigid framework—they can extend and adapt Gesso to evolve with their needs.

Another key benefit is faster time-to-market. Gesso’s reusable components allow our teams to start projects quickly, reducing development time and costs, and enabling clients to focus on their strategic goals without getting bogged down in technical delays.

Performance is central to Gesso. Its architecture ensures fast load times, improving user experiences and increasing engagement. Additionally, Gesso provides scalability and design consistency, ensuring that as businesses grow, their digital experiences remain cohesive.

Whether using Drupal, WordPress, or a modern stack like Next.js, Gesso’s platform flexibility enables us to tailor solutions to each client’s needs. By integrating accessibility, performance, and scalability, Gesso helps our clients succeed in an increasingly competitive digital space.

Forum One partnered with Tangled Bank Studios to build the Wild Hope website using the WordPress version of Gesso. The dynamic, scalable site highlights biodiversity preservation through stunning nature-focused visuals and intuitive user pathways. Designed to grow with the series, it allows users to watch episodes, explore resources, and engage in real-world conservation activities, all while being easy for the Wild Hope team to manage and expand.

A Front-End Solution That Delivers

At Forum One, we believe that exceptional digital experiences require both the right technology and a user-focused approach. Gesso empowers us to build accessible, high-performance, and scalable websites that meet the diverse needs of our clients. Whether it’s ensuring accessibility compliance or optimizing for performance and growth, Gesso provides a solid foundation for success.

We are excited to continue evolving Gesso and using it to help our clients achieve their digital goals. If you’re ready to create a fast, accessible, and scalable website, we’d love to help you get started with Gesso.