The Design

When I first began this project, the amount of content (ever-changing content at that) was a bit overwhelming. My initial instinct was to go simple, concise, and clear to mimic similar sites (news, sports, etc). This somewhat restricted my design, and Nate could tell. He wanted to see more of me in it; something a lot more custom and unique to other sites with similar content.

So I went to my sketchbook and got busy. I ended up doing a couple finished drawings that I was able to incorporate into the interface to give it more of a “high-action” feel. I thought that by creating a lot of movement, I could capture the essence of the site; live content constantly being updated.

It was a challenge to do something that was dynamic and interesting enough to pull people in, but still made sense for the amount of content that needed to be displayed. It was definitely fun to work on, though. Design is always most fun for me when I get to incorporate some other fine art, like drawing, into my digital work.

Nate had a vision to set HLN apart, and he saw it through. I enjoyed the process, and I’m glad to have been a big part of it.

-Ben Long