Work

Brief

Academi came to Creo with a brief for a small sub-site focussing on the indexing and location of plaques signifying the birthplace, residence, or resting place of famous Welsh writers’.

Solution

One of the key elements of the site is the integration of Google Maps linking to the biographies of the individual writers featured. By using the interactive map as a central aspect of the site and placing ‘pins’ at relevant geographical points onto it, Creo was able to develop a site that synched both text and interactive imagery seamlessly. The outcome was a site that was both aesthetically pleasing and intuitive to use from a visitors perspective. The visual nature of the navigation system was also a key point; site visitors can browse for a poet or writer that interests them, select their ‘pin’ to view a partial biography, before being given the option to ‘View the full story’ if they wish. This ‘layering’ of the user interface prevents the site from appearing too daunting in its presentation of information.

The site also has bilingual features built into it, fittingly enabling the site to be viewed in Welsh as well as English, a feature that many of the writers featured surely would have approved of.

Further elements of functionality include a facility for users to submit locations of previously unknown plaque locations to the site administrators, so they might be added to the Google map interface.

The finished site allows Academi to showcase Wales’s rich literary and cultural history in an innovative and pleasing format, hopefully encouraging visitors to view the plaques in person and become involved in the project.