First glances can be so deceptive. Revamping the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) website looked like it would be a fairly quick job; a sprint rather than a marathon. You understand. But, as I said, first glances … .
The Sanef website with a fresh look and feel.
It turned out the old site had quite a bit of content to unravel and repackage before we could bring it up to date. In addition to new structure and functionality, the pages called for a fresh look and feel. This was the starting point for the project I’d be managing, after joining Flow in a permanent part-time position.
To begin, Janet Berger, Flow’s design studio manager, spent some of her weekend reading Sanef’s 10th anniversary publication, Part of the Story.
“This stuff is a lot more interesting than it looks,” she offered the following Monday.
With insight born of years of experience, her laptop now held the first elements of a new site; a subtle palette in blues and greys, together with the motivation for her selections. The colours immediately conveyed the organisation’s professionalism and prestige.
Several discussions and rough drafts later, Janet gave Ryan Levenson – one of Flow’s talented graphic designers – the go-ahead. Plugging into the music that inspires him, via his earphones, he was off, images streaming from his brain, down his arms into his fingers, to take shape on his Mac.
Meanwhile, upstairs, in the rarefied air of Flow’s technical studio, the development team, led by head geek Richard Frank, brainstormed ideas for the new site’s functionality. These sessions were conducted in a special language, utterly obscure to the rest of us. Faith is wonderful. You don’t always have to understand something to know that everything will turn out all right in the end. Kudos to Flow developer, Steve Frank, who spent many weeks patiently, and bravely, inching his way through the fog of my technical ignorance to bring about the site we see today.
After a successful presentation to the Sanef board, made up of many of the country’s big-name media representatives, Flow had formal approval to forge ahead. The challenge in the weeks that followed lay in weaving together all three aspects – design, content and functionality – of the new site.
And, I think, it did all come together to fulfill the initial criteria – a professional, well-designed website that functioned as an excellent resource for Sanef’s members and the public.
Check out the new site at www.sanef.org.za
Thanks Bev for putting up with our geeky language!