It’s better when you have content
Things have gone pretty well over the last week, working on my re-design of CHNM’s French Revolution website, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.” In my work this week, compared with the design project, I really appreciate having the content finished and basically organized. Trying to redesign CHNM’s home page was challenging in large part because, as Lee Ann and Paula highlighted, a new organization of the material is essential. I took a stab at it, and there are parts, frankly, that I believe should disappear from the site altogether and parts that I wasn’t sure what to do with. If we actually tackle a redesign of the home page, I certainly talk to the CHNM folks about what should stay, go, or move about. But I didn’t because I wanted to focus more on visual design and less on information architecture (though I did spend quite a lot of time on that as well, but I was unable to make -decisions- about it). But that was the last project, and now we’re on the final…
For the French Revolution site, the content is there. The content is great. The content just needs to be presented better. First of all, a visitor needs a better idea of what is on the site than what is currently presented on the main page. I have revamped the information architecture and hammered out a few pages for this week. They aren’t bad, but I know they need some more styling. Some things will be impossible to accomplish even for the final next week because they relate to the information that is stored in the database which needs to be revamped. That will take some time. Here is my preliminary design.
I also commented on Jenny’s blog that: (1) I think her design is great and a very good use of the web to present historical content because it is interactive and dynamic, and because it provides information that probably isn’t available elsewhere, so real value added. And, (2) that for those of you in the history program, I can understand how it is hard to worry about your content as you design these sites, but the class is about the design, and so, in my humble opinion, you are allowed, even expected, to neglect your content a little bit as you focus on learning design. That way, later on, you can simply recall all the fundamentals of design you’ve learned in this class and apply them with ease, allowing design worries to fall to the background as you write brilliant history. Right? I would add that I thought of using a paper I wrote in graduate school years ago for one of our projects, and I was far too concerned about whether or not my content was still well-written and indeed good enough to be posted online. So I completely understand the worry, and I can tell you I am much happier this week working on “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” where I absolutely do not need to worry about the content, only about its presentation.
I have also commented on Mark’s blog, saying that he has organized a large project very well, and he made some great image choices. I also think the site would benefit from more consistency in header style and from more dreary or violent colors to provide an appropriate and consistent ambiance throughout the site.
April 30th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
The French Revolution redesign looks great, It seems the information architecture is a lot more straightforward. That the CHNM redesign was frustrating reinforces the point that you can’t do justice to design without the content.
Bill
May 1st, 2007 at 6:59 am
I think the French Revolution redesign is fantastic. Good job!
I think I’m still a little bit vague about the purpose of this class. I guess I have a different expectation as a history PhD and historian–I want to learn how to present good history, not how to design. I agree that design is important, but design is nothing without content. Because this class is in the history department, I have different expectations than if it were in a design department. I’m a huge believer in crossing disciplines, but I want to learn more history-based design. Is that possible, or is it all just design?
May 3rd, 2007 at 7:24 am
You have outdone all of us with your wonderful site, Laura. This much-improved version of the site has straightforward navigation, an elegant and clean look, and very appropriate design. I hope to learn a little about how your designer’s mind approaches things like this. I think my site is fairly basic, and doesn’t really integrate enough of the feel of the time into it’s design. I’m so happy to have your work to look at and see how to think in different terms. I agree with Jenny on the challenges to putting your historian’s cap aside for a bit to think about design, and I’m happy we’ve had your good examples of design to challenge us in that respect.