Over the past few months you may have noticed the new Sunlight logo or caught a glimpse of the redesigns... View Article
Continue readingRedesigning Sunlight Foundation
Around this time last year, after taking over the look and feel of the Foundation instead of just the Labs, I decided to do a small refresh of the main Foundation site. The goal of this refresh was to make sure we were displaying our content in a consistent way and to make the front-end code not only cleaner but updated to use HTML5. Since that time I've settled into the position of Creative Director, we've built a small but great design team, and we've been able to start building interest around the Foundation to do a greater redesign of our brand and other main sites. The time has finally come...
Continue readingRebooting the FCC – a major first step
Today the Federal Communications Commission released “reboot the FCC,” an ambitious attempt to “improv[e] citizen interactions with the Federal Communications... View Article
Continue readingThe FCC Redesign Epilogue
The day after the reveal of our conceptual FCC comps, the FCC invited Daniel and I over to discuss the redesign. They were very receptive to our suggestions, and indicated a strong desire to implement some significant changes to the site in the relatively near future. We haven't seen anything with our own eyes – yet – but they asked smart questions and gave good answers to our questions. We're hopeful that there's some good work to be seen in the near future.
Continue readingRedesigning the FCC: Results
Thanks to everyone who took part in our online card sorting exercise last week. We had a great response, and it was really helpful in putting together a more cohesive and understandable structure for our upcoming FCC redesign. Without further ado, here's what we landed on:
Continue readingRedesigning the FCC: Last Chance
Have 15 to 20 minutes to help us redesign the FCC's website? There are just a few days left to participate in our card sorting exercise. If you have the time today or tomorrow, visit http://websort.net/s/B74CAB/ to get started. I'll be gathering the results Friday morning and will then start on the design.
Thanks to all who have participated so far!
Get Started here: http://websort.net/s/B74CAB/
Continue readingThe Supreme Court Website: An Updated Redesign
In June, the Sunlight Foundation released a mock-up redesign of the Supreme Court’s website. Our intent was to provoke discussion... View Article
Continue readingRedesigning The Government: The U.S. Supreme Court
President Obama's nomination of Judge Sotomayor has brought increased attention to the U.S. Supreme Court. It also has led us to reexamine the Court's web site, which is long overdue for an overhaul. In its current form, its web design is suggestive of the 1990s, and its functionality is similarly dated. The Justices appear to agree. They've recently ask Congress for money to move control of the site in-house, taking over responsibility from the GPO. This move would allow them, in their words, to "better control and manage the web site and to be able to expand the data and services provided by the site more efficiently." The current web site has many shortcomings. It doesn't contain briefs by the parties and omits all but a few relatively recent Court opinions. Its navigation is a nightmare and its design fails to incorporate modern techniques such as RSS feeds and XML. Much information is unnecessarily locked in PDFs. And yet, in January 2009 the nine-year-old site received 18 million hits. To help the Court update its web presence, the Sunlight Foundation has put together the following mock-up. The most important aspect of the mock-up is that it takes into account the web site's diverse users. It accommodates the general public and students, legal researchers, court researchers, and litigants. Accordingly, we believe the redesigned web site must be simple, straightforward, and robust. It must strive to make the Court's proceedings transparent, incorporate modern design principles, and meet the higher expectations of today's web user. This post is the next in a series of government web site mock-ups that suggests how parts of the government should transform their online presence. Previous iterations have included: USA.gov, FEC.gov, EPA.gov, and Data.gov. Under the fold, we have the mock-up and detailed descriptions of how the Supreme Court web site should be redesigned.
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