Its nice to see an advertising agency break the mold of what’s expected from what is essentially their portfolio site. Modernista’s new home on the web is anything but conventional.

Visiting Modernista’s site leaves you initially underwhelmed. There is a simple red box aligned to the top left of your browser screen which serves as a navigation element. Whats left for content is.. Wikipedia?

Thats right, according to a small disclaimer on the site..

Do not be alarmed.
You are viewing Modernista! through the eyes of the Web.
The menu on the left is our homepage. Everything behind it is beyond our control.

While Modernista’s logo and navigation box are omnipresent, the content which tells their story comes from unlikely sources - Wikipedia, Google News, Flickr and Facebook.

Technically, if one were to write something critical of their company it would show up on their own home page. Think about that for a moment. It takes an immense confidence to be so hands off with how you’re represented online. That is, unless you happen to be a really good agency whose work speaks for itself.

“We could create a website just like everybody else or create our own social networking website, but what good is that?” said Mr. Koepke, Modernista’s co-founder and executive creative director. “It’s nice to let other people decide what we are. … At least it’s fresh. It can be very mundane in this business, and very methodical.”

I’ve never seen an approach like this but I have to say, it is very refreshing and honest.