Recent postings...
- harmony in grayJanuary 30, 2008
- spring awakeningMarch 10, 2007
- seventh crack at it, make something newJanuary 8, 2007
- post holiday boostJanuary 8, 2007
- the non-red & green guideDecember 16, 2006
- 2,842 steps = 12 blocks = one 2-liter of Diet CokeAugust 21, 2006
- The Crows Feet are Worth ItAugust 8, 2006
- The Smell of New School ClothesAugust 1, 2006
harmony in gray
With the close of January here I'm at a safe enough distance now to reflect on my work from the 2007 Holiday season. For Arts & Living coverage on washingtonpost.com this time of year is by far our largest audience period, but also a big driver of our financials. So there tends to be a unique opportunity to work on some important pieces that will get a fair shake when it comes to promotion.
The Guide consists of six content categories that each have their own collection page in the package. From there we build out pages for anything beyond just a standard article, whether it be an interactive graphic, product guides, calendars, how-to's, etc. Beyond just living within The Guide, these pieces also take on the structure and look of the package. All in all you're left with a really solid showing of content that flows well from piece to piece. In the Features space it's our greatest effort all year at making our content hum on the web instead of just shoveling it over as is from the printed product.
An overview of the design methods...
- Page structure: My attempt with the layout was to make our collection of elements - dynamic lead, section archives, columnists, comments, sharing, advertising - all feel like they were apart of the full page instead of relegated to separate universes. It's common with the Washington Post templates to slice the page up between header, content well, ad column and footer. I've found that structure had always produced a fragmented experience, which in turn I've tried to avoid with this feature. My goal is accomplished by bringing all the elements under one umbrella of single background and then defining shapes to separate the pieces. Minimal line work and shading was used to avoid a visually strong page structure. I wanted it to recede back and have the content offerings rise forward.
- Color: A reserved collection of grays and a single strong dash of green was used. Again, I wanted the content to pull forward, which in this case our the photographs. The page didn't need to have color everywhere because the photographs would already bring some drama to the stage. Same would go for simple typography and iconography. Let the content do the talking instead of upstaging it with unnecessary design noise.
- Technology: Our dynamic lead position was powered by flash, giving us the ability to control the piece by xml forms and have our editors make their respective changes instead of working with the Design team each day. Down the page we employed a show/hide functionality on the front screen with our content category buckets. This enabled us to lighten the visual page load, but also provide access to the full swatch of material at a click of the mouse. This was one way to get to our archives, but you could also use the main navigation of The Holiday Guide - it was the same file feeding both locations. We wanted to give the audience multiple methods to get what they needed, but not necessarily overload the main screen.
We accomplished many of our wishes with this particular special report and I'm glad to see we've made strides from last year's collection. We're continually refining what our formula is with each passing season, but I'm proud that we've settled on a design style and are finding ways to put a twist on this look.
spring awakening
I believe it was early January when I lost it. The temperature was hovering around the upper 20s, not horrible by any means for this time of year, but it was the contrast that stung me the most. The day before it had been in the 60s: perfection-well aside from everyone flipping out. You see, weather that warm in any month that doesn't allow you to wear white is a crime. Or even worse, the end of the world. Hysteria had settled in. I was feeling great.
That is, until winter had returned. In search of relief I went online immediately and scheduled a vacation to Florida. Problem solved.
The fact that I was getting ready to design out the spring set of features for washingtonpost.com was just salt in my wounds. Although the weather outside had turned sour, the design season ahead was invigorating. I absolutely adore the type of feature material that gets constructed this time of year. It's a treat to move out of the winter season that so often is dominated by a heavier palette. Spring was here, if only in my mind.
A few packages of note from the spring lineup:
The fashion and beauty coverage from The Washington Post has really started to produce great results for the site in the past year. What began as an editorial mission from our editors to build the female 18-49 year old audience, resulted in a new focus on applicable consumer fashion pieces. This spring is no exception.
The package will run for the next two months and feature weekly additions. The first series is on translating runway fashions into affordable looks. My desire was twofold: 1.) create a package that drove strong pageviews and 2.) focus on increasing the amount of time each viewer spends on our pages. The solution was to move more of the material outside of Flash without sacrificing presentation or ease of use. To increase viewing time, we focused on more featurettes sprinkled on the front page and future pages of the package.
The color palette for this piece, that'll be incorporated into other spring features, weaves in strong bursts of yellow, the dominate color on the spring runways. Texture comes from a floral print used as a background or in little bits around page titles. I really wanted to create a visual story that felt full, complemented the idea of spring, but didn't quickly jump into the world of pastels and stripes.
Oh, The Places You Should Go
Four continents, 18 locations and 50 beautiful photographs. This online-only package compares popular international tourists locations with unique, unknown, comparable locations.
With this piece, like Spring Fashion & Beauty, we set out to drive pageviews and encourage users to jump deeper into the package with strong crosslinking. Mini photo galleries anchored the top grid with stunning photography, set to mild sideways movement to display the full photograph without having to occupy that much space on the page. The bottom duplicates the navigation, while further linking the pages together for users and also for search engine spiders.
Beer Madness
In conjunction with the Sunday Source section in print, this package applies the March Madness logic to beer. Not the most inspirational package for me-beer hasn't been my drink of choice since freshman year at NIU-but it was fascinating to move this project through the design stage and into production. A freelance Flash designer made it come to life and really did an outstanding job of getting through the challenging logic of the grid and polling functionality. There was a good amount of trying one idea and then going in a completely different direction. In the end, it is a fun service piece with a strong online-only component that will update well over the next month.
Other minor pieces published since January
2007 Fashion Shows | Hard Copies | Cherry Blossom Festival
seventh crack at it, make something new
Winter has finally arrived in Washington, right about the time I was hoping global warming was going to force a pass, and with it comes the award season. To kick things off this year at washingtonpost.com we've launched a new section, Award Season Central, to be our one stop for all things award-like.
Fishbowl D.C. had this to say...
In the end, I believe what we created was a wonderful compliment to the actresses that fill the red carpet, bronzed and glowing—along with their skin.
The pages themselves really speak to what we strive to do with these larger pieces. To create an environment that conveys a strong sense of identity, boldly proclaims its space within a large Web site and aims to provide an enriched storytelling experience.
Additional features will roll out through the next month with the Academy Awards. I'll post links here when they're live. In the Award Show Central space, Washington Post coverage will continue to be added through out the year.
The pages:
- Award Show Central
- Academy Awards
- Award Show Explorer
- Awards Tracker
- Oscar Talk
- Oscar Dress Quiz
- Their Next Big Things
- Here, The Ice Is Right
- Sunday Arts: Oscars Special
- In the Spotlight
- Nominees
post holiday boost
Returned from holiday back in Chicago feeling refreshed and ready for an exciting next few months. After laboring in the remaining months of 2006 on the Holiday Guide section, I'm excited to move onto new material. This spring my attention turns to the awards season, but not before a few small features launch.
Both the Shakespeare and Jobs packages were like any other special I must have designed a dozen times beforehand. Yet, they both did afford me the opportunity to apply a fresher design style with generous amounts of breathing room.
The re-Date package was pure bliss. Brought in early for photo input, I had the chance, and I stress chance, to envision a layout with the photos as I had selected instead of what the press gave me. Played around with making the daters appear like they're on a virtual dating block with oversized name tags. Had a very specific desire for how the interactivity would be carried out and our freelance designer did an amazing job. All in all, a rewarding package that came together in about eight hours and provides a great example to the print newsroom of what we are aiming to do with their cooperation.
It's great to be back and restocked with extra enthusiasm for what design lies ahead this year.
the non-red & green guide
This holiday season has been a flurry of activity in the feature sections at washingtonpost.com. We set off this year to develop a central hub for all of our holiday content. From gift guides to turkey carving, the past two months have been spent brainstorming with Post editors, designing, developing and maintaining the largest single project in Arts & Living. Let's just say at this point that I'm a tad tired of doing photo cut-outs.
- Holiday Guide front
- Gifts section
- Entertaining section
- Fashion section
- Activities section
- Seasonal survival section
- Holiday 911 blog
- Holiday planner
- Gifts: home gift guide, shopping marathon, tech guide, food gift guide, travel gifts, office grab bag, toy test, best books of 2006, dvd gift guide, museum gift guide, Dave Barry's gifts of last resort
- Entertaining: tree stands, cookies, wreaths, table settings, turkey carving, gift wrapping, holiday movie guide
- Fashion: haute for the holidays, winter beauty, designs on you, gifts of beauty, jacket required, skin sense
- Activities: ski guide
2,842 steps = 12 blocks = 2-liter of D.C.
I have recently had the fortune to inherit an old pedometer, circa the 2002 McDonald's Go Active! campaign. It was one of those glorious finds. Living in the city without a car, you're often wondering just how much walking am I doing for that quick Diet Coke run. Well, now I know. 2,842 steps.
With my newfound gadget buckled around my belt, I'm on a mission to track what a typical week is like walking in my shoes. Minus the repeated trips to the bathroom at home, I'm logging the everyday motion outside my building.
Its easy to see how much city dwellers depend on their legs to move about. With driving being such a chore, we resort to the sidewalks in droves. Having sold my car when I left Illinois back in 2004 and moved to D.C., I depend on my feeble legs to get me where I need to go. That and the subway.
It wasn't until recently though that I started to become increasingly exhausted from my trips around town. I used to be able to take a walk around Georgetown at night and feel great. But, as of lately, I get back home and am just beat. Could it be age? Poor shoes? Or, could it be that my body is getting accustomed to walking many miles a day and poops-out at the thought of more?
So, to the streets I go. Logging each pounding movement on my aching knees. Down the subway escalators and back up. Through the lobby and to my desk. Out of my chair for lunch and back down again. To a meeting and back. Then from the subway to my apartment. That Monday journey alone was 7,297 steps and I haven't even taken a stroll downtown for relaxation tonight.
And to think, most suburban Americans log only 1,000 steps a day moving from their covered garage to sub-terrain parking level and back home. All along forking out $300 a month in car payments, $200 in gas, $130 in car insurance and myriad of government licenses and city sticker fees.
That's one for the environment and a few for me.
the crows feet are worth it
The alarm sounds. You startle awake, fumbling through the darkness. Slowly your body comes to terms with a new day—your mind already planning the next 18 hours of alertness.
Between that early morning hour and the time you're at your desk eating a Pop-Tart, what exactly convinces you it was all worth getting up for? You know, the pile of projects, the bruising reviews, the communication failures—with all that in tow, why do you still do it? Student loans? Not exactly.
There are certainly careers out there that would guarantee a comfortable financial life, but that's where it ends. At the ATM. What about that thirst to create? The desire to provoke your audience to live a better life. A life filled with a passion to live another day.
I recently came across an amazing online discussion with The New York Times Magazine editor, Gerald Marzorati. I read the piece with great fascination because of his position at The Times and my appreciation for the Sunday magazine. The magazine is always enticing material to consume, taking me to places I only wish I could experience and others I'm simply grateful to be an observer. Outside of the words, the publication has such a touching sense of style. With restraint, the designers pull off remarkable feats on a weekly deadline. Each page showcases the best in design theory, never applying more than necessary but always causing you to gasp at such creativity and wit.
What caught me in this transcript was Marzorati's passion for what he does. The long days, break-neck deadlines, unnerving readers—it can all add up to burnout. But, for those that live and breathe their craft, it is much more than something to fill their days. And certainly more than a paycheck.
In my life, I feel immensely blessed to be a part of the larger picture. It goes beyond getting my needs met as a developing designer, I draw my strength from making a connection. Knowing that the work of The Washington Post is consumed by a demanding audience that settles for nothing less than complete is an awesome responsibility. This audience moves me to new places, seeking out a better experience, even if this is the umpteenth time I've designed this package.
It won't move me closer to affording that flat-panel monitor I've been eyeing, but it will make me get up tomorrow morning and the next one there after.
I just hope after decades in this business, I too am inspired to be a part of something wonderful. Something much greater than the needs of the moment. Something that grinds the needle forward just a little harder.
the smell of new school clothes
It's supposed to be summer right? That lull between busy and even more busy. Not this year apparently.
As I head into August I'm beginning to wonder if I've even caught my breath for the full season of design ahead. May began with 20 odd special sections having something to do with the word summer or guide. In another orbit were two large redesigns, City Guide and Jobs.
With these all behind me I'm lingering in the hot August days looking forward to the cool reprise of September. What feeling will it bring? Exciting first day back to school or the dread of another year?