Information Architecture
Bosch Architecture of Portage Michigan knew they needed a new web site. The previous visual design did not reflect the firm’s vision and the content was outdated at best, misleading at worst.
In Theory…
After discussing their goals for the site we decided that intuitive navigation and a clean design that focused on their portfolio of work — with an emphasis on beautiful images — was the best solution. We also agreed that an easy to use content management system, accessible to their employees, would help keep the site fresh and accurate. This would also reduce the pressure on the client’s staff to have all of the final content assembled beforehand.
the main page
The Design
The design of the main page drove the rest of the site. With a neutral grey background, any images they choose to display are more likely to pop while cropping images to a cinema style aspect ratio helps create interest in even casual compositions. Project images animate smoothly through a user defined set or one is simply chosen at random should JavaScript be disabled.
A minimum of navigational elements, designed to “tell a story” as the visitor moves from left to right, complete the page.
a project profile page
The Important Bits
The focus of the site, the project profiles, carry over the clean design of the main page and provide key project information without distracting from the important bits: the images. Image thumbnails link to larger versions and a complete gallery for the current project. Projects, project types and clients are all cross-referenced in the database in order to provide links between related items.
Under the Hood
The site was developed in Python on top of the Django web framework with a custom content management system. Photologue was used for image processing and JavaScript animations were implemented using the MooTools library. Web hosting is currently provided by WebFaction.
Both the client and I were very happy with the design and functionality of the final product. The site was officially launched on March 10th, 2009:
