EBlog

Behind the scenes at Expression Engine and AIGA

March 22, 2007 | Posted by: Marty

I have recently read two absolutely awesome articles talking about the redesigns for the new Expression Engine website and the AIGA website.

The interesting thing about the AIGA article is that it does not talk about the design of the website at all, but of their Content Management System! This, folks, is IA at its best … and their CMS frontend is better designed than their site in my opinion. The thought that went into this is astounding - and for something the public never sees.

The redesign of the Expression Engine site (and sister sites) mirrors a lot of our processes here with some tweaks - like presenting multiple rounds of wireframes and a final black and white wireframe phase - taking all notion of color out of the initial mockups. They did have the luxury of having all the content beforehand, however, which makes that part of the process that much more cohesive and takes “imaginary” content out of the equation.

Make sure to read the “pixel perfect” section. As with EVERY site, “attention to minute, pixel-level details … might not be easily apparent to the naked eye, but they can make a big difference in the final design.” Here, here.