Johnson Society website and logo

August 2015

I was very pleased to be asked to submit a proposal to update the Johnson Society website in 2014. It needed to be in keeping with the style of the Transactions and my design was in its third year of annual publication at that point (see the Designing for the Johnson Society post). The new site uses the WordpressTriton Lite theme with extra customisation. Again I've taken the original dictionary book plate as the main influence - adapting it to be the main website header.

It is a clean and simple layout. The page divider, reworked from a section of the geometric pattern tooled on the back cover of the original dictionary, appears at the bottom of the Transactions pages, and animated gifs of Johnsonian quotations are the illustration at the bottom of the main pages. I chose the calligraphic Edwardian Script (nearly Georgian) for its flourishes and artistic appeal.

I used the Wordpress platform to help the society gain ownership of their site while ensuring security updates and technical support would not be a problem. You can view other workspace website work here.

Marketing materials were then discussed, and a need was identified for a society logo to add to leaflets and posters. The logo needed to stand out when used as a letterhead and in the footer of emails but also needed to be a simple solution as it would often need to be printed off by members of the society on inkjet printers. The required logo should be appropriate for viewing in large or small size, and ideally should only make use of one colour. I looked back at the elements in the Transactions and on the website, and arrived at this design.