I enjoyed the original website for Living Galapagos.

Although it lacked alignment (on the homescreen), it still was a pleasant design that was easy to navigate. At first, I thought I might follow in those footsteps: create a map on the homepage and have most of the content filtered on there with a minimum of additional story pages. But I decided to go with something more unique from that design with certain elements of the original intact. For continuity, I kept Galapagos in a similar, bold, sans serif, capitalized font. Similarly, I used a flowing script for Living, and both of these represent the headlines on the pages. The Gill Sans Extra Condensed and the Brush Script Italic are good contrasts, and usually the color adds to the pop when theyre side-by-side. Speaking of the color: I didnt use any of the color-scheme tools on Illistrator. I probably will in the future, but I picked these colors out originally for a purpose. When my design was intended to include the map, I wanted colors that would coordinate with that; so I picked out a warm orange and made a natural, pale green. I knew that orange and green work well together, plus they embody both the organic focus and the tropical nature of the material. Later I found out the orange on top of the green vibrated uncomfortably, but I never used the colors in this way. Besides these two, I also used black as a background and accent, as well as white text when it was overlaid on the green. On the sidebar, the featured articles are accented in another (similar) green color. Like the 2009 website, I made most of the content stay on the homepage. The center shuffles when the mouse hovers over Story, People, About, Facts, and Places. And as that happens each of the available options is displayed below in the box. Whether the content selected is video, image, or slideshow, it is displayed in the grid above those icons. This may look quite different from the old layout, but in function is fairly similar. At the top of the page are several buttons that dont relate to content (except for introduction, in case the viewer wants to watch again). These include several from the original such as Espaol and Share. I also added a button that redirects to UNC Chapel Hill. I thought this was a simple way of telling the viewer where this project originated. And free publicity isnt a bad thing! The sidebar I added to help pull more viewers into the site. The pictures and video are some useful previews to entice more exploration. On that note, there is a brief explanation on the homepage about the project, what it is, and what its purpose is. This was my primary annoyance with the 2009 site; I didnt understand what exactly I was viewing. However, I did enjoy the old webpage, so I included a link in the redesign to it.

Wireframe
Introduction Video

Share

2009 Site

Support

Home Page

Espanol

Introduction

UNC

Stories

People

Places

Facts

About

Sidebar

Facebook

Twitter

4Square ...

Map

F. Fact

F. Person F. Story

Fact 1 Fact 2 Fact 3 Fact 4 Fact 5...

Video, picture, or text

Color Scheme

UNC CHAPEL HILL

SUPPORT

INTRODUCTION

SHARE

ESPAOL

2009 SITE

Map of the Islands

living

GALPAGOS
MAN
watch again?

battle for balance between and

NATURE

Featured Fact
In 1959, 90 percent of the Galapagos Islands was set aside as part of the Galapagos Islands National Park. Today the land is split into three zones...read more

Featured Place

Kicker Rock, located off the coast of San Cristobal, is a popular snorkeling and scuba diving spot. Some days visitors can see turtles, sea lions...read more

Featured Story

Sed tincidunt quam sit amet tellus vulputate a suscipit ante condimentum. Donec eget lacus eget nisi volutpat convallis. Mauris tempor, felis ...read more

INTRODUCTION
and about the project.

STORIES PLACES FACTS PEOPLE ABOUT

Living Galapagos is a project made by a team of journalists
from UNC Chapel Hill. In 2009 they visited the islands to observe their stunning beauty alongside the cultural and ecological issues that make the country so unique.

To learn more, click on the icons above to view videos both from

UNC CHAPEL HILL

SUPPORT

INTRODUCTION

SHARE

ESPAOL

2009 SITE

Map of the Islands

living

GALPAGOS
MAN

battle for balance between and

NATURE

Featured Fact

In 1959, 90 percent of the Galapagos Islands was set aside as part of the Galapagos Islands National Park. Today the land is split into three zones...read more

Featured Place

Kicker Rock, located off the coast of San Cristobal, is a popular snorkeling and scuba diving spot. Some days visitors can see turtles, sea lions...read more

SOUTH PLAZA ISLAND

by Elias Sinkus

STORIES PLACES FACTS PEOPLE ABOUT

Bachas Beach Place Number 2 Place Number 1 South Plaza Island Place Number 1 The Station Place Number 1 Place Number 2 Bringing Home the Bacon Place Number 2 Place Number 1 Place Number 2 Las Grietas Place Number 2 Kicker Rock Sunset Man Beach Place Number 1 Floreana Place Number 1 Place Number 2 Place Number 1 El Progreso Place Number 1 Place Number 2 Place Number 1 Baltra Island Place Number 1 Punta Carola Place Number 1 Place Number 2

Featured Story
Sed tincidunt quam sit amet tellus vulputate a suscipit ante condimentum. Donec eget lacus eget nisi volutpat convallis. Mauris tempor, felis ...read more