28 June 2008

Perpetual delay!

So, the site redesign & archive purge is still on hold. We’re getting ready to move a few blocks from where we live right now, and it’s in my best interest to get things ready to go!

I’ve also been rethinking the nature of design and what exactly I hope to achieve with this space (as well as with Textivism, but that’s a beast unto itself, with its mysterious server-related issues). I’ve found myself inspired by Jason Santa Maria’s redesign. Even more important, though, was attending a day-long course on information design, yesterday, run by the incredible Edward Tufte. I learned a ton, but perhaps most important was the affirmation that content should dictate the design.

Once I’ve nailed down my sites’ content, redesigning them will make more sense. With Draſty Speche this is especially important. I still love medieval literature, textual criticism, composition, & bibliography, but at this point they’re much more hobbies than an explicitly about my professional life. Much of the current content will still exist somewhere, but perhaps in an altered form, or at least in altered locations. (Either option will also slow down the reworking of the site, since I’d rather not leave any broken links—that’d be rude.)

I’m playing with some interesting technologies, some of which might surface in the redesign. But I’m spending more time thinking about, working on, and reworking content. I want my design to be effective—and as far as I can tell, that won’t happen unless the design serves the content. Design shouldn’t function as a Procrustean bed.

PS If you want to read my more frequent—and brief—thoughts, feel free to check me out on Twitter.

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