diff --git a/app/escriptorium/context_processors.py b/app/escriptorium/context_processors.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..0cb8536ee0569d734e9e5408622e1194f66fc7d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/escriptorium/context_processors.py
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+from django.conf import settings
+
+
+def custom_homepage(request):
+    return {'CUSTOM_HOME': getattr(settings, 'CUSTOM_HOME', False)}
diff --git a/app/escriptorium/local_settings.py.example b/app/escriptorium/local_settings.py.example
index 56d974991e957b565b652834acc7908e2271b7c5..d7337561f992b14c43c74383d592ee9316429fee 100644
--- a/app/escriptorium/local_settings.py.example
+++ b/app/escriptorium/local_settings.py.example
@@ -39,3 +39,8 @@ DEBUG_TOOLBAR_PANELS = [
 ]
 
 # USE_CELERY = False
+# CELERY_TASK_ALWAYS_EAGER = True
+
+# LOGGING['loggers']['kraken']['level'] = 'DEBUG'
+
+# CUSTOM_HOME = True
diff --git a/app/escriptorium/settings.py b/app/escriptorium/settings.py
index 222e9f0b9fd0f8f2285bcef3322674d535442625..1bb762b2535c4650b040c52a7cca79ddb06bf288 100644
--- a/app/escriptorium/settings.py
+++ b/app/escriptorium/settings.py
@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@ SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER = ('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO', 'https')
 # SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
 DEBUG = os.getenv('DEBUG', False)
 
+CUSTOM_HOME = os.getenv('CUSTOM_HOME', False)
+
 ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['*']
 
 ASGI_APPLICATION = "escriptorium.routing.application"
@@ -87,7 +89,8 @@ ROOT_URLCONF = 'escriptorium.urls'
 TEMPLATES = [
     {
         'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
-        'DIRS': [os.path.join(PROJECT_ROOT, 'templates')],
+        'DIRS': [os.path.join(PROJECT_ROOT, 'templates'),
+                 os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'homepage')],  # custom homepage dir (volume in docker)
         'APP_DIRS': True,
         'OPTIONS': {
             'context_processors': [
@@ -95,6 +98,7 @@ TEMPLATES = [
                 'django.template.context_processors.request',
                 'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
                 'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
+                'escriptorium.context_processors.custom_homepage'
             ],
         },
     },
@@ -218,6 +222,7 @@ STATIC_URL = '/static/'
 STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static')
 STATICFILES_DIRS = [
     os.path.join(PROJECT_ROOT, 'static'),
+    os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'homepage'),  # custom homepage directory
     FRONTEND_DIR
 ]
 
diff --git a/app/escriptorium/static/images/inria.png b/app/escriptorium/static/images/inria.png
index bbec4993b89fd379f1bc859c2723c7ff931b7b4d..b2997fd5a37783cd23d6962dfa692ee9773cbe0a 100644
Binary files a/app/escriptorium/static/images/inria.png and b/app/escriptorium/static/images/inria.png differ
diff --git a/app/escriptorium/templates/core/home.html b/app/escriptorium/templates/core/home.html
index 71628f572f624d764a50d1716c98512ac4595db7..e06dca6ba274e36bfa1605325c1127a6f6d21d55 100644
--- a/app/escriptorium/templates/core/home.html
+++ b/app/escriptorium/templates/core/home.html
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@
 <div class="jumbotron text-center bg-light">
   <h1 class="jumbotron-heading">eScriptorium</h1>
   <p class="lead text-muted">{% trans "A project providing digital recognition of handwritten documents using machine learning techniques." %}</p>
+  {% if CUSTOM_HOME %}
+  {% include "additional_heading.html" %}
+  {% endif %}
 </div>
 
 <div class="container my-5">
@@ -32,45 +35,56 @@
     <hr/>
 </div>
 
-<div class="my-5 container-fluid text-center">
-    <a href="https://www.ephe.psl.eu">
-        <img src="{% static "images/ephe.png" "%}" alt="EPHE logo" height="100">
-    </a>
-    <a href="https://scripta.psl.eu/en/" class="pl-4">
-        <img src="{% static "images/pslscripta.png" "%}" alt="Scripta PSL logo" height="80">
-    </a>
 
-    <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/" class="pl-4">
-        <img src="{% static "images/h2020.jpg" "%}" alt="Horizon 2020 logo" height="100">
-    </a>
+<div class="row">
+    <div class="my-5 container-fluid text-center">
+        <a href="https://www.ephe.psl.eu" target="_blank">
+            <img src="{% static "images/ephe.png" "%}" alt="EPHE logo" height="100">
+        </a>
+        <a href="https://scripta.psl.eu/en/" class="pl-4" target="_blank">
+            <img src="{% static "images/pslscripta.png" "%}" alt="Scripta PSL logo" height="60">
+        </a>
 
-    <a href="https://www.openiti.org/" class="pl-4">
-        <img src="{% static "images/openiti.png" "%}" alt="DIM Region ile de france logo" height="100">
-    </a>
+        <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/" class="pl-4" target="_blank">
+            <img src="{% static "images/h2020.jpg" "%}" alt="Horizon 2020 logo" height="100">
+        </a>
 
-    <a href="https://www.iledefrance.fr/des-aides-la-recherche-pour-13-domaines-dinteret-majeur" class="pl-4">
-        <img src="{% static "images/regionidf.jpg" "%}" alt="DIM Region ile de france logo" height="100">
-    </a>
+        <a href="https://www.openiti.org/" class="pl-4" target="_blank">
+            <img src="{% static "images/openiti.png" "%}" alt="DIM Region ile de france logo" height="90">
+        </a>
 
-    <a href="https://inria.fr/fr" class="pl-4">
-        <img src="{% static "images/inria.png" "%}" alt="INRIA logo" height="100">
-    </a>
+        <a href="https://www.iledefrance.fr/des-aides-la-recherche-pour-13-domaines-dinteret-majeur" class="pl-4" target="_blank">
+            <img src="{% static "images/regionidf.jpg" "%}" alt="DIM Region ile de france logo" height="100">
+        </a>
 
+        <a href="https://inria.fr/fr" class="pl-4" target="_blank">
+            <img src="{% static "images/inria.png" "%}" alt="INRIA logo" height="60">
+        </a>
+    </div>
+
+    {% if CUSTOM_HOME %}
+    {% include "additional_icons.html" %}
+    {% endif %}
 </div>
 
-<footer class="bg-light">
-    <div class="container py-2">
-        <div class="col-6">
-            <h5>{% trans "Resources" %}</h5>
-            <ul class="list-unstyled" %}
-                <li><a href="https://lectaurep.hypotheses.org/documentation/escriptorium-tutorial-en">{% trans "Tutorial" %}</a></li>
-                <li><a href="https://gitlab.inria.fr/scripta/escriptorium">{% trans "eScriptorium open source code" %}</a> Version {{ VERSION_DATE }}</li>
-                <li><a href="https://escripta.hypotheses.org/">{% trans "Scripta Blog" %}</a></li>
-                <li><a href="http://kraken.re/">{{ KRAKEN_VERSION|capfirst }}</a></li>
-                <li><a href="https://gitlab.inria.fr/scripta/escriptorium/-/wikis/home">Wiki</a></li>
-            </ul>
+<footer class="bg-light mt-5 pt-1">
+    <div class="container">
+        <div class="row">
+            <div class="col-6">
+                <h5>{% trans "Resources" %}</h5>
+                <ul class="list-unstyled">
+                    <li><a href="https://lectaurep.hypotheses.org/documentation/escriptorium-tutorial-en" target="_blank">{% trans "Tutorial" %}</a></li>
+                    <li><a href="https://gitlab.inria.fr/scripta/escriptorium" target="_blank">{% trans "eScriptorium open source code" %}</a> Version {{ VERSION_DATE }}</li>
+                    <li><a href="https://escripta.hypotheses.org/" target="_blank">{% trans "Scripta Blog" %}</a></li>
+                    <li><a href="http://kraken.re/" target="_blank">{{ KRAKEN_VERSION|capfirst }}</a></li>
+                    <li><a href="https://gitlab.inria.fr/scripta/escriptorium/-/wikis/home" target="_blank">Wiki</a></li>
+                </ul>
+            </div>
+
+            {% if CUSTOM_HOME %}
+            {% include "additional_footer.html" %}
+            {% endif %}
         </div>
     </div>
 </footer>
-
 {% endblock %}
diff --git a/app/homepage_example/additional_footer.html b/app/homepage_example/additional_footer.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..3b3cfba9bf0b49f68a2180447e47c3f869088f00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/homepage_example/additional_footer.html
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+{% load i18n %}
+<div class="col-6">
+    <h5>{% trans "Powered by" %}</h5>
+    <ul class="list-unstyled">
+        <li><a href="https://www.python.org" target="_blank">Python</a></li>
+        <li><a href="https://www.djangoproject.com" target="_blank">Django</a></li>
+        <li><a href="https://vuejs.org" target="_blank">Vue.js</a></li>
+    </ul>
+</div>
diff --git a/app/homepage_example/additional_heading.html b/app/homepage_example/additional_heading.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..8eb1c6a8ff5174d9e1d9ec129933392396793610
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/homepage_example/additional_heading.html
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+<p>eScriptorium accounts are created on invitation only for now. If your institution doesn't provide it, you can use the contact form to ask for access.</p>
diff --git a/app/homepage_example/additional_icons.html b/app/homepage_example/additional_icons.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..1b6ece1af55126823c5e18d33b69f9d626352b21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/homepage_example/additional_icons.html
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+{% load staticfiles %}
+</div> <!-- example to create another row -->
+<div class="row">
+    <div class="container-fluid text-center">
+        <a href="http://www.python.org" target="_blank">
+            <img src="{% static "python.png" %}" alt="custom logo" height="50">
+        </a>
+        <a href="http://www.djangoproject.com" target="_blank">
+            <img src="{% static "django.png" %}" alt="custom logo" height="50">
+        </a>
+    </div>
diff --git a/app/homepage_example/django.png b/app/homepage_example/django.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..2a1d873eeb34af6bf0c69baec82fe45e1bf749b9
Binary files /dev/null and b/app/homepage_example/django.png differ
diff --git a/app/homepage_example/python.png b/app/homepage_example/python.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a215d687b662d4a105fc116492d0a3add6435cfb
Binary files /dev/null and b/app/homepage_example/python.png differ