Stage One: The Brief
We teamed up with The Design Factor (TDF) to respond to Donnelly O Neill's (d-on's) invitation to tender. TDF had previously created d-on's branding and former website, and asked us to have a go at creating something special for their new site.
d-on had a good idea of what they wanted; large full screen imagery showing off their previous accomplishments and an unobtrusive menu that guided you throughout their projects.
Stage Two: Our Response
We designed a number of conceptual slides to provoke a reaction from d-on, and the response was good.
Stage Three: Building The Site
Based on our conceptual slides we set about building the site using a combination of html, css and javascript. The javascript allowed for on-the-fly updating of the background as the user moused over the thumbnails within each project.
The full screen images resized as the user resized their browser, and updated on each refresh of a page. Each time you visited the home page you'd be greeted with a different background. d-on loved this variation and enjoyed the experience of seeing something new with each visit.
Stage Four: Initial Feedback
The initial response to our prototype site was good, however some issues were raised about the size of the menu bar on smaller screens.
Sure enough on smaller resolutions such as 1024x768 or 1280x800 the menu bar did take up a good percentage of the screen. We set about trying to reduce the size of this bar without ruining the impact of full screen on a large resolution (eg 1920x1200).
Stage Five: A Sticky Situation
Donnelly O Neill were concerned that users on small screen resolutions (below 1024x768) were missing some content off to the right of the screen. This was due to the fixed menu bar which stayed in position while the page scrolled below.
Due to the rise in the use of netbooks, we could no longer argue that the percentage of users on resolutions smaller than 1024x768 was too small to be overly concerned about.
What to do? It was settled that we would have to do away with the fixed menu bar. As it would now have to scroll with the page, it could no longer keep its position of floating just above the base of the screen.
We moved the menu bar to the top of the page and narrowed it further, at d-on's request.
Stage Six: Content Management
“d-on were delighted with the ease of use of our system.”
Now that we were settled and everyone was happy with how the page looked and worked across different resolutions, we set about building a custom content management system to allow d-on to add/remove projects, reorder thumbnails, and update copy and blog at their discretion.
d-on were delighted with the ease of use of our system and have been happily adding new content and rearranging projects to their hearts' delight.
Stage Seven: The Launch
We were all delighted to get the site launched at the start of August. Donnelly O Neill had what they wanted: An impacting and immersive experience for the visitor that showcased their unique eye for design and materials within architecture. Visit the site here.
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