Avatar Studios — Official Nickelodeon Website Design
Caro Bursell
Building the franchise hub for Nickelodeon's production company behind Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, bringing their scattered communities, content, and commerce under one roof.
The Avatar franchise has one of the most devoted fan communities in animation (of which I am a part). With content spread across streaming platforms, a concert tour, books, games, and an active social presence, existing fans needed a single destination to stay on top of new releases, and the creators needed somewhere polished to introduce their world to new ones.
As Creative Production Director at award-winning creative studio Powster working with major global entertainment clients, I led end-to-end delivery of this website from pitch through post-launch.
Visual direction first draft
My initial instinct was a lighter palette with character-forward visual direction, the natural move for someone who already knows every character's arc. Through revision rounds with the client and working alongside designer Ryo Ogawa, we realised a general audience wouldn't arrive with that same connection. The design needed to mature and simplify. The final direction pulled back to a darker, more sophisticated palette with subtle world-building patterns.
Senior Video Editor Sylvain Kellaway created a landing page hero cycling through the franchise's distinct landscapes in a watercolour painting style, evoking the richness of the Asian-influenced source material from the moment you land.
Characters were woven in as scroll accents and visuals for the interactive personality quiz: preserving the warmth the series is known for without making IP recognition a barrier to entry.
The success of the main site and quiz led to a follow-on Timeline page mapping all franchise content in both in-world chronological and release order, a meaningful feature for a property with a big legacy. Project Manager Charlie Cutmore kept client communications running smoothly across both phases, which meant the creative work could stay focused.
The result: tens of thousands of impressions, a platform ready to grow with the highly anticipated releases still to come, and tickets to Avatar In Concert from a client that felt the collaboration.
“Working with Caroline on the Avatar Studios website was a standout experience. She’s incredibly sharp creatively, deeply capable technically, and one of those rare partners who can take on anything and just make it happen. Thoughtful, responsive, and endlessly solutions-oriented—she elevated the entire project.”
— Tanner Stransky, Content Strategist at Nickelodeon
Thanks to the brilliant team at Powster, and to Nickelodeon for letting me work on my literal dream project.
If you liked this, let me know. And if you're looking to create sustainable & accessible websites, let's chat!
✽ carobursell.com ✽
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Posted May 1, 2026
Building the franchise hub for the creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender, bringing their scattered communities, content, and commerce under one roof.
