So Loraine asked me to add the blog link to her site.

Site before redesign

At first glance her site seemed pleasing, lots of white space and an attractive color and font for the main site heading. A closer look revealed problems:

• The header, Don’t Get Thin Get Healthy, was a graphic with no alt tag, making it invisible to screen readers and search engines
• No headings at all were used (search engines use headings to help determine site content)
• Neither book title nor author name were used in text (only in graphics), making them invisible to search engines
• Using orange text on green buttons for the current page link may cause difficulty for visitors with certain types of color blindness
• The use of three greens (header, link buttons, bold text) gave an uncoordinated, scattershot effect
• The bird of paradise graphics appeared to have nothing to do with anything on the page, like they’d just been plopped in an empty space to look pretty
• Having the menu buttons separated across the page width disrupted normal eye tracking

In addition, the link buttons at the top of the page weren’t designed for expandability — the Home button and “by Loraine Holden” were one graphic. Adding a link for a blog would entail recreating the menu anyway, so I suggested that the entire site be redesigned.

Loraine agreed, and I started working up a new design. The bird of paradise graphic was important to Loraine, so I made it a key part of the design and not an afterthought. She also wanted site visitors to call her about speaking engagements, so her phone number is placed in a prominent position on most pages. She doesn’t have time to monitor blog comments for spam, so her blog doesn’t have a comments section. In fact, her blog isn’t called a blog at all — it’s an ezine.

Redesigned site

I think her site redesign turned out well. Decide for yourself: dontgetthin-gethealthy.com.

First step was a redesign while they searched for an editor. None of the offices had a dedicated editor; the job was assigned to individuals who shoehorned the newsletter work in between their regular duties, and the newsletters of the six offices lacked an overall agency design.

I got the design job. Details: A monthly newsletter of 6-10 pages in PDF, distributed through the intranet. The design was to be professional and friendly; the purpose was to share technical tips, need-to-know news, and job announcements; and to promote morale by recognizing employees, sharing promotion news, and highlighting the agency’s accomplishments. The newsletter should coordinate somewhat with the Department of Justice Web site. Newsletter readers were attorneys and support staff including secretaries and legal assistants, and analysts, managers, technical staff, and other staff.

Three mockups

I provided three initial designs based on a palette of red, blue, and gold pulled from the Web site. Although the distribution method — on screen — permits full color, working with a few main colors gives a more cohesive look. Photos, of course, were used in full color.

The final design

The client liked design #1 the best, and over the next six issues, while the process of hiring an editor continued, the design was refined. Green was added to the palette to highlight the new environmental column. The gold logo in the masthead was provided by a DOJ employee (see the second image). Some regular column names changed, and some columns were added. Folks from all six offices were recruited to send in articles and photos.

Feedback from readers was positive. People complimented the professional look and liked being able to pick out names with a quick scan (see the Accolades page, last image).

One of my clients sent me a signed copy of her book. I love getting clients’ books — it’s always a pleasure to see how the final printed book turned out.

I worked on the editing, not the design, but the combination of red and black is lovely, isn’t it? And the red with black is repeated in the interior illustrations, with the red and black overprinted to give a sepia brown tone.

One of my clients gave me this poinsettia. I knew I should have taken a picture right away — after three weeks under my care, the poinsettia has lost some of its glow. It was an amazing plant when I first brought it home: the tallest poinsettia I’d ever seen, with brilliant red leaves hiding the stems.

I waited before taking a photo so I could include my client’s book — The Ivaldis Sail to America by Sybil Ann Ivaldi — with it. Next time I won’t wait.

This photo doesn’t do justice to either the plant or the book. The book, by the way, was a real challenge: 393 photos and 6 graphics, printed in color.