Perhaps contrary to yesterday’s entry, I do have a rather large web project launching today: FightingBob.com, an online magazine dealing with Wisconsin politics from a progressive perspective. It’s not large in terms of content – not yet – but it could eventually be the most-read site I’ve ever designed. I’m not involved on the editorial side at all, but I think there’s definitely a market out there (in Madison, at least) for this brand of political news and activism.
Let me know what you think.
Okay, so nobody’s talked about the site yet, really, which is the main objective of a twatlicious troll, so I’m going to ignore the pampered ignorance with which tenderfoot Trustafundians view things like Physical Reality (i.e., market pressures also apply to the web and ideas, while unlimited, are not free) and actuall talk about fightingbob.com.
I really like the layout: simple categories of content and easy ways to move between them. The previews of articles are just about the right length, everything is clear and readable, and the content is good while not too good, if you know what I mean — you have to give your audience a way in, a la “I could write something for them!” Which, hopefully, they will, since participation seems to be the bread and butter of your format.
The color scheme is great — I can just see the Wisconsin State Journal snickering over all that red — and the typography doesn’t get in the way of navigation. My only concern is the picture of Bob himself: his juxtaposition with other elements up top is rather static, and the square cropping of the photo doesn’t take my eye anyplace in particular. Maybe a future redesign effort could find a way to integrate his photo more closely into the overall top logo. Think: halftoning, fading, watermarking, etc.
This is the kind of locally-progressive, politically-realistic publication that could (potentially) help revitalize Madison’s lazy, self-satisfied progressive voice. It’s going to be a long conservative winter in Wisconsin, and we have to start lighting fires before our fingers freeze.
My first thought upon ‘using’ the site was: “Why all the ‘go to story’ links; why not make the red, bold headline the link to the full text?” (This is because I have been trained by such sites as CommonDreams.org , WorkingForChange.com , & AlterNet.org )
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I go now.