Beeson International Center Website
July 03, 2007
On a typical day at Asbury Theological Seminary I work with the main website in a variety of ways, though I will admit that I rarely get to step outside the current framework. That’s why I was thrilled when I heard that there was a department on campus that wanted to push the limits of what we could offer, and they wanted it to look good at the same time. After quite a bit of work from everyone involved we just launched the new Beeson International Center website.
First Things First
As I always like to give credit where credit is due I’ll start with the design work. This site was designed by Jeana Clark who did an excellent job of approaching the current Seminary look and adapting it to a new framework, all while giving it a different spin of elegance.
When I received this project it was given to me as a packaged deal. They already knew where they wanted things placed, the types of content that needed to be displayed and how they wanted it displayed. I do know that the team of people in the Beeson Center put in a lot of hours working through the content and making corrections.
My Role
My role in this project was to take the design and the content and merge them into a functional website. I started by pulling the pieces out of a Photoshop document and cutting them into usable pieces. Once I had the elements separated I began working through the structure and style. This site was written in XHTML 1.0 Strict and both it and the CSS validate. I’m also proud of the PHP I wrote to deliver some structure and content depending on which section of the Beeson website you’re viewing. Sometimes you have a certain set of photos, other times you’ll get a different set. Anything that falls outside of the CMS functionality needed to be coded in PHP, I will say that it made me think at times.
The Lone sIFR Font
Some will notice the predominant (burgundy) titles of each page are written in a font that is definitely not a traditional web font. This was accomplished by using sIFR fonts, a process that takes the content and replaces it with Flash text written in a Flash shell. You can read more about the process at Mike Davidson’s website.
Conclusion
It was nice to get a project that ranged outside of my usual tasks. We have a few more things both for the main site and the sub sites that will enhance the user experience, I’m excited about what the next few months may bring.
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David – The website looks great! You did an awesome job implementing my vision… and I’m impressed by how much text you could pull out of the graphics and treat as actual type.
Jeana – Really, it was nice to get something that made me think, and think creatively at that. You casted your vision well, I just had to put the pieces together. In fact, I was just talking with a co-worker today about how we appreciated your initiative to plan for the web and it’s subtle nuances and not just design the print side and leave the rest for me to retrofit. I’d say you did the hard part, I just got to make it function. =)