Alison Shuman is a Massachusetts-based Architect that has been designing NationBuilder websites since July of 2015. Her passion for photography and travel has given her a unique design perspective, which she outlines in her story below.
By nature, I am a storyteller. I love weaving various elements together to tell a captivating tale. Storytelling has been a part of what makes us human since our ancestors first began using language. It helps us relate to and understand the world around us, and connects us to one another. It is such an effective tool that it has become somewhat of a modern buzzword, employed by humanitarian organizations and Fortune 500 companies alike. Simply put, it is all about creating an emotional connection.
When I first began working as an Architect with NationBuilder, I quickly understood that it was much more than just a web platform. Above all else, NationBuilder’s fundamental purpose is to help people build and empower communities, regardless of whether members of that community live in the same town or are stretched out across the globe. Here again, it is about fostering that sense of connection. On a personal level, connection is everything to me. Although I am an American based in Massachusetts, I now mainly live as a digital nomad. Whether it’s having a deep, meaningful conversation in a language that’s not my own (I speak Russian), sharing a smile with someone whose language I do not speak, or visiting a new state here in the US, connecting with people is a vital part of my daily life.
Research has shown that the average person surfing the web decides whether to stay on a website in fewer than 15 seconds. At that speed, these decisions happen on more of an instinctual level than a rational one. As a graduate student studying photojournalism and multimedia web design, I learned how to get at the heart of the story and capture it in 1/60th of a second.
In web design as in photojournalism, it is imperative to create an emotional connection with your audience and spark an interest in learning more. Images are one of the most powerful and direct methods for this, and whenever possible my designs combine striking imagery with clear and concise text for maximum impact. Life is also in the details, and thus it is equally important to align every aspect of a website – from color scheme and font to layout and interactivity – into one cohesive story that will captivate and inform your audience.
Daylight Mill Creek
When the Keepers of Mill Creek needed to gain support for their efforts to reconnect Mill Creek to the Saskatchewan River in Edmonton, Canada, they needed a site and brand identity that reflected their cause and encouraged people to get involved. Usually I have something that starts as a base for a design - a logo, a color scheme, or even a vague idea of how my client wants the site to look, but this was one of the rare and creatively exciting times that I was given a completely blank slate.
The site needed to tell the story of the environmental and historical importance of this project. With this in mind, I first began searching for a color palette. To emphasize the environmental connection, I chose rich, earthy tones. In using a light creamy color as the background and a deep brown for the text, I avoided the starkness of black and white, but maintained the readability of the site. Olive green, sunny yellow, and a hint of aqua blue are used as accents. Next, to underscore the historical aspect, I found the perfect old-world style font for the logo, which I also used for titles, headlines and pullout quotes.
The homepage banner features a stunning photo of the area in full autumn bloom, and a large call to action button to get involved in the project. As the viewer scrolls down the page, information appears in bite-sized parts that flow organically one after the other, drawing the eye from left to right and back. Pullout quotes, custom graphical icons, and earthy background images are used to highlight important facts and details. The footer is transformed into a river seafloor where the viewer is compelled to join the mailing list with a large call to action form. The site also features pop-up images and video as interactive elements.
The Scintillon Institute
The Scintillon Institute wanted a compelling, image-driven site to compliment their innovative biomedical and bioenergy research facility. The site opens with a dynamic full-screen image slideshow. As pictures of bioluminescent mushrooms and neural synapses flash on the screen, viewers are introduced to the institute’s numerous research areas. For continuity throughout the site, every individual page features a different full-screen image as the backdrop, and elements placed over the image have a slightly translucent quality, allowing the image to shine through without interfering with the legibility of the text.
The stars of the institute are, of course, its scientists. Each of the nine scientists has an individual lab page with a background image that corresponds with their research focus. News and blog posts relating to the scientist are also dynamically loaded from the blog to their page. The clients wanted a more prominent focus on fundraising, so I drew attention to the “Donate” button in the site’s main navigation bar in a subtle, yet effective manner, by placing it at the end and by adding a white border around the button to set it apart from the other tabs.
As a web designer who travels and lives abroad, my skillset is both broad and uniquely suited to working with non-profits, grassroots campaigns, small businesses, and artists. This global experience, perspective, and deeply ingrained ability to connect with people are invaluable resources that I bring to all my projects.
