Which comes first: Design or Content?

Posted on by interactiveTeam


The last couple weeks our web team has been coming up with ideas on how we want the site to look and how we want users to navigate through our site. We’ve been making user flow charts and wireframes to convey some of our preliminary ideas. It’s been an interesting process. We’ve had some difficulties coming up with definite ideas because we still don’t have all of our content. It can be extremely difficult to come up with a plan for a website without completely knowing what will be in it. We’ve tried our best to get through this difficulty by remaining confident in our thoughts and plans. Gathering as much information from content creators as possible will allow us to build a site in tandem with the developing content. With this concept, we will be able to create an ideal site that will marry the web design with the content instead of just dropping content into a template.

While constructing some of our wireframes, we had a lot of different ideas as far as how a user will navigate through our site. One of our initial ideas was to have a pull out tab that a user could access to navigate to other areas of the site. After we discussed this idea, we realized that this tab would obstruct the content of the story. Even a small tab would take up too much of the screen on a mobile device. We want our users to be able to see our stories without any obstructions.

Our team works best by discussing all possible options in order to find the best solutions for the website. We are confident that our ideas will be fresh and engaging to keep users coming back for more.

Soul Of Athens 2012 Project Begins…

Posted on by interactiveTeam

It’s that time of year where nearly 100 students combine forces to create the annual Soul Of Athens project.Each year the goal is to push the envelope, both in terms of a tightened focus on content and message, as well as how that content is presented across platforms and outlets. After more than a month of informal discussions and brainstorming sessions, we’ve placed this statement sits at the top of one of our key guiding documents:

In this important national election year, SOA ‘12 will focus on and examine issues and policies that will shape the future of those living in the Southeast Ohio region. Our company will not explore every topic currently facing our country, or examine a particular political candidate’s stance on the issues. Instead, SOA ‘12 focuses on four core essays vital to America’s future as it moves forward in the 21st century.

Collaboration is going to be key. We have benchmarks and deadlines scattered across a 60-day timeline, with target publication dates set for the end of May. This year we’ve already started scouring the web for inspiration, sketching in our notebooks, working in teams, and going out into the community and region to gather stories.

Continue to visit this blog for a behind-the-scenes look at our story-gathering, collaboration and development process over the coming months.

~The Soul of Athens 2012 Team

 

“Our Dreams Are Different” iPad App is Here!

Posted on by marketingTeam

The day has finally arrived! The Soul of Athens “Our Dreams Are Different” iPad App is here!

Although the content for the iPad was decided upon during week 5 of our 10-week quarter it took another 5 weeks to layout, design, build, test and edit content! The hard work paid off, however, and now Soul of Athens can proudly show off this great accomplishment!

The download includes selected pieces from the 2011 Soul of Athens website with a few new interactive features that only the iPad can offer! Swipe your way through each piece, all the while interacting with photos, maps and images. The best part…It’s ONLY 99¢!!!

“This year, the new challenge was to extend the brand of “Soul of Athens” to a theme and dual platforms,” said Terry Eiler, Director of the School of Visual Communication.

“Our interactive designers and producers have continued to refine their ability to produce quality story telling and exceptional visual journalism,” he added.

At the head of the project was Senior Producer and first year Graduate Student, Tristan Wyatt.

“One word, Hectic! I believe that the SOA group as a whole came to the same conclusion that we maybe aren’t as good of writers as we originally thought. The majority of the last minute work consisted of copyediting. Unlike the web, the iPad app process involves an approval process that can take up to couple weeks. If any mistakes slipped by, we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to fix them until much later. For that reason, we put in a very strong effort into polishing and refining the content as best as possible. I truly believe that the care and effort invested shows in the app and the website,” said Wyatt.

Wyatt added, “I’m very excited to break new ground for the department. This was our first app, and was definitely a learning process. Even with the learning curve, I’m extremely impressed with the content that we produced this year, and how the SOA group pulled together to help build an app that we can be proud of. It was definitely a group effort. Now that we have this app under our belt, I’m excited to see how our future digital publications progress and evolve.”

Be sure to click the link below to buy your copy!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/soul-athens-our-dreams-are/id440636190?mt=8&ls=1