Becker Design

What an honor it was for Becker Design to be selected to create the new website for Yerkes Observatory, located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, which launched this summer as Yerkes re-opened to the public for the first time in three years. From writing to design and development, Becker produced a responsive site featuring a robust admin for expansion and easy updating. It also established a visual language for the observatory to be utilized across a variety of vehicles.

So important was the pioneering work of Yerkes, which opened in 1897, that it became known as the birthplace of astrophysics. The new website includes a “Who’s Who” section celebrating the bright lights of astronomy, astrophysics, and related sciences, who made their discoveries looking through the observatory’s 40-inch telescope, still the largest refracting telescope in the world.

Today, Yerkes is beginning its next chapter, made possible when the University of Chicago in 2020 transferred ownership of the observatory and 50 acres of lush grounds designed by Olmsted Brothers to the Yerkes Future Foundation. As the new caretakers of Yerkes, the Foundation is preserving and protecting the past while preparing it to serve as a beacon—drawing in future generations of explorers and scientists to new realms of discovery.