drw Design: Portfolio

Archipelago is an online magazine that publishes fine literature, commentary, poetry and essays. It was published quarterly, from 1997 through 2007.

drw Design handled the web production from the beginning. This project was demanding because the texts often had complex layouts—poetry for example, needs to look a certain way. Many of the texts were in foreign languages and had odd diacritical marks.

The site went through three major redesigns as time and technology changed drastically from 1997, our first year of publication.

The first version, designed by our friend Mike Uriss, was done in greyscale, as the publisher had a black and white monitor way back when those things existed!

We convinced the publisher to let us give this publication a warmer, more print-like look and feel after the first year. This version stood up nicely for the next five years.

We introduced style sheets, more graphic elements, some multimedia and interactive features during this period.

In 2003, Archipelago got another redesign. We gave it an even more print-like look and feel. The page backgrounds are white, the body font larger and more lively, the color palette crisp and clean. We added streaming audio pieces, Flash slide shows and art exhibits to the mix while still maintaining a healthy respect for the texts and their authors.

The final issue of Archipelago was published ten years to the day after it began. You can still enjoy this literary lovefest.  All the issues are still on the site today, and will remain.

Here is what our client said:

Dear Debra,

With deep thanks for your endlessly beautiful and artful design and production of Archipelago these ten good years. None better than you.

With warm good wishes,

Katherine McNamara
Publisher, Archipelago

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