Bright Hill Press
Littree Redesign
Original Design
The NYSCA Literary Map of New York State and the NYSCA Tree
New York State Littree was created to serve NYSCA-funded organizations with literary programs, their curators, and the poets and writers they present. The site offers in-depth information about the organizations and their curators as well as detailed schedules, thereby serving as a learning center and clearing house for those involved in literature-based presentation. The site was planned and developed by Bright Hill Press in partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts. The new website design will be a modern, "sticky", interactive portal where users and literary venues can communicate. The new design personalizes the user experience with by allowing them to easily find bookstores, libraries, small presses, and literary organizations. The website currently receives over 50,000 visitors, our goal for the redesign is to double the visitor traffic within 6 months by incorporating social media and an easy user interface.
Initial Outline
Template Purchase & Wireframe Development
A template for the new design was chosen and purchased during a meeting between webmaster, Marc Funaro, from Advantex and Executive Director, Beatrice Georgalidis. The wireframe of the original site was created and all of the content was transferred to a word document laid out in the structure of the original website complete with links and stock/original images.
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Design Mockups
Using the purchased template as a guide, mockups of the home page, about page, and events page were designed to create a visual of our preferred aesthetic as a model for our webmaster.
Aesthetic
Images sourced and licensed to express literary themes.
Logo Design
Imagery was sourced of the open book and the maple tree, which is the New York State Tree. The color of the book was changed from blue to green to match the color scheme of the website. The images were combined to make it appear as if the maple tree was coming out of the open book.
Stock Images
Original Photography
Photographs taken at Bright Hill Press and local libraries to express literary themes.
Photography by Bright Hill Intern, Michelle Fisher, curated by Executive Director, Beatrice Georgalidis.
Regional Imagery
NYS Littree includes a database of New York State libraries, bookstores, small presses, and literary organizations separated into 15 different regions. The new design includes banner images of each region.
Libraries
Photos of a library from every region were selected to create relationships with libraries by offering direct back links to the organizations URLs and spotlighting by using photos of their locations.
Bookstores
Photos of a bookstore from every region were selected to create relationships with local bookstores by offering direct back links to the store's URLs and spotlighting by using photos of their locations.
Literary Organizations
Photos of literary organizations from every region were selected to create relationships with organizations by offering direct back links to the organizations URLs and spotlighting by using their logos.
Small Presses
Photos from a small press from every region were selected to create relationships with New York State small presses by offering direct back links to the organizations URLs and spotlighting by using photos of their locations.