CLIENT

CS Publishing Society

(jsh-online.com)

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ROLE

visual designer

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BACKSTORY

In 2013, I was lead visual designer of an integrated development team to transform the flagship website for CS Publishing, JSH-Online.com, into a valuable subscription-based site. The site is the center of the company's web-first publishing strategy. 

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It provides an online portal to 130 years of publishing which is rich with content providing the subscriber the ability to search, read, listen, and share over 275,000 articles, testimonies, and audio programs, many available in 14 different languages.

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PROBLEM

The original site, spirituality.com was over-run with advertising, articles, graphics, and announcements. Everything was screaming for its own attention. It had a "Las Vegas" appearance, with everything screaming for attention. Simplification was inevitable, but how should it be implemented?

 

SOLUTION

Leading to the solution, the first task was to determine what information was going to be on the new site and how it was going to be logically organized. Limiting the banner ads to a rotating carousel not only conserved space, but kept the messages above the fold without clutter. With no more than five ad banners in the carousel, each department could get their chance to get their message out, without overwhelming the reader. Some banners promote web editorial articles, subscription promos, or products in the online shop. The purpose was to give enough information to spark the reader's interest to click and read. Additionally, these promos were re-purposed for our targeted social media platforms.