We're building a website: Design

If you're anything like me you may wonder about the boundaries that exist between different roles in website production. 

What do web designers do?

Obviously the designers are responsible for all aspects of visual communication on the website. But when website layout and communication are intrinsic to usability the designer's job can blur very quickly with information architecture (the structure and display of information and data) and user experience design (how users encounter and interact with the interface to fulfill tasks). 

Early in the website development, while the research team Pure and Applied collected qualitative data from our audiences, the designers from Toben did their own research to prepare the visual response.

What animal are we?

This research started with Katja Hartung from Toben interviewing Michael Rolfe, Katie Duncan (Info and Resources Officer) and me about M&G NSW's brand identity. There were plenty of normal questions but  there were also some more abstract ones. For example, Katja asked us what animal M&G was. 

There was a moment's hesitation before Katie offered "cattle dog." At first I was suspicious that Katie's near obsession with canines was colouring her response but she then explained that M&G was like a faithful dog steering people towards the best resources and services, and the public ("the cattle"???) towards your wonderful places. Michael and I had to agree that cattle dog sounded pretty good.

What does this have to do with design?

Katja was collecting information about M&G's "personality." Unlike the qualitative data Pure and Applied were pulling, this profile was more expressive, and very much about our own sense of identity. What does the organisation aspire to do? What new audiences do we want to reach? 

When we saw Toben next they had responded to these personality traits with a range of conceptual and visual responses - ways forward in expressing our brand online. What fascinated me was how these conceptual design solutions also informed the user experience. 

'Magazine" versus "Explorer"

Toben discussed two types of user experience, and how they could be visually displayed on the page; the "magazine" and "explorer". The magazine style embraced the diversity of our sector by foregrounding rich editorial and visual content, but maintained a useful browsing function. 

Examples of 'magazine' style design.

The second option was the "explorer" interface. This experience allowed visitors with a particular point of interest in the museum and gallery sector to surface and focus on different content. The keyword search would become an interactive feature, surfacing different content types related to the search. With this version the user leads the content.

Examples of  'Explorer' style design.

As you can see, Toben may be designers but their remit extends to how users interact with the content on the website. Armed with these concepts and Adrian's research and experience we concluded the "magazine" style was our direction forward. M&G would lead the audience to the best stories. 

The concept

Toben also introduced us to four concepts that would "colour" or "personalise" the website - providing visual motifs that could emphasise the user experience.

Showing the Way

Make your own journey

A cultural melting pot

Surfacing treasures

Of the four concepts the first took hold. We appreciated the playfulness of "surfacing treasures" but felt that "showing the way" was a good fit with our online directory and the "magazine style" user experience we were promoting. 

In the following weeks, Toben responded to our first impressions and built up a strong visual brand identity. Next fortnight, we'll introduce you to the look and feel of our new website.