Society of Professional Journalists, 2006-present

Every year, SPJ hosts a joint journalism convention in some part of the country, and much as I’m in charge of the society’s main site, I also get tasked with this. It’s an assignment I enjoy, because unlike the regular SPJ site, I can design this a completely different way each year. In addition to using bright and fun “travel to meet us!” colors, that gives me the opportunity to try some new stuff here before porting it over somewhere else. Among this year’s treats: The main menu scrolls up from the bottom (see below) when the top main menu scrolls out of view. So if you can’t find a link to, say, the hotel and travel details, it’s probably your fault and you may not be journalism material after all. Certainly not excellent journalism, anyway. Don’t feel bad — it’s a cutthroat profession.

(I also drew that little doodle at the top of the 2013 site. It’s an abstract mishmash of Anaheim’s skyline and Disneyland at night, but mostly it was an excuse to use even more colors than usual.)

Anyway, above and below are screens from this year’s site and sites from the last few years. Nothing before 2010, because back then the convention sites actually were just an extension of the regular site and not really all that unique in their design. They served their purpose, but were nothing to write home about. Or I guess even less worth writing home about than normal, because I’m not sure old website designs in general are something you should waste time on when writing a letter home.

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