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| Kidult.com |
Abstract Kidult is the brainchild of pop star Pharrell Williams. It took two months to design, two more to build and three to beta test. Three companies worked on it. My firm, Limachips, was responsible for construction so I took the lead on project management. This was the most complex site I worked on in 2009. Client request A multimedia news and entertainment site that appeals to hip high-school kids. What I did Client interfacing, project management, information architecture, layout, quality control, copywriting Directives
Solutions The initial design was done by another firm. My input was significant but I can't take credit for the graphics. However, before we took the design from paper to Internet it was apparent that the layout was too flat to be engaging to the target audience. I suggested we animate some components on the homepage to give it more life. We used JavaScript to add movement. This also allowed us to display more content without changing the initial design template. No site aimed at teenagers has a chance without multimedia. I directed my team to build slick video players and an easy-to-use video section that can pull content automatically from sites like YouTube, Hulu and Vimeo. We also added widgets to all the news pages for additional functionality. Aside from reading news articles and interviews, users can listen to the President's weekly address, check sports scores, calculate credit card debt, play puzzle games and subscribe to podcasts. The site's front-end is impressive but the back-end interface, is even more noteworthy. When I conceived it, I focused on automation and scalability. The functionality includes a significant amount of automation so updating the site is fast and easy. This lowers the client's staffing expenses considerably. The client also wanted to plan for growth because the initial staff of 10 could quickly become a staff of 30. The CMS is more than capable of handling growth of any magnitude. Visit Kidult.com
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