The Sacramento Bee Launches New Website, Designed by NavigationArts
October 14th, 2008
The Sacramento Bee (www.sacbee.com) today launched a new website, designed by NavigationArts, a leading user experience design consultancy. A primary goal of the redesign was to integrate The Sacramento Bee’s print and online channels, and to evolve to a more web-centric business model. NavigationArts accomplished these goals by following their user-centered design methodology, enhancing the online experience to drive more satisfying and engaging user interactions and promote regular, repeated visits.
The Sacramento Bee’s website is now on a level playing field with leading national newspaper sites, and it is a fitting online companion to the newspaper’s print edition. A key component of the web strategy was to reinforce the brand identity of the newspaper online, rather than regard the website as a separate news product.
The new Sacramento Bee site features an intuitive navigation scheme that accommodates the site’s broad content and diverse audience, and provides an engaging online experience that drives readers past the homepage and into the section-level and story-level parts of the site. It is easy to navigate, incorporates multimedia content in an attractive widget, allows for improved reader interaction with the site, and features a new look and feel that facilitates usability and findability.
NavigationArts provided information architecture, user interface design, and development services to create the new website. NavigationArts' user experience team created a site that balances the presentation of content, advertising, and partner promotions in a way that makes all the information easily scannable and digestible. The new design offers a more sophisticated treatment of multimedia content and incorporates comment functionality and filters for the most viewed and most commented articles.
NavigationArts has a long history of working with clients in the newspaper industry. In July of this year, NavigationArts redesigned the website for another McClatchy newspaper, The Charlotte Observer. NavigationArts redesigned the website for the Newspaper Association of America and has worked on projects for The Washington Post. NavigationArts is currently engaged with The Charlotte Observer to redesign a community portal focused on all things Charlotte. Other media clients include NPR and PBS.
About The Sacramento Bee
The Sacramento Bee is the region's leading media company, providing a trusted and valued source of news and information to the communities we serve. It was founded on Feb. 3, 1857, when the first issue of The Sacramento Bee (then The Daily Bee) was published. James McClatchy, one of the first editors, eventually came to own the paper and left his imprint on policies, values and character that remain today. Throughout the years his descendants played a crucial role in running the newspaper, including his sons Charles Kenny McClatchy and Valentine Stuart McClatchy, and Charles’ daughter, Eleanor McClatchy.
Today, under the leadership of Publisher and President Cheryl Dell, the Bee’s innovative spirit can be seen in the paper’s introduction of new ideas for news coverage and products, which have made it recognized nationally as a leader in the industry. And, while the newspaper industry is dramatically different from the 1850s, a commitment to its early principles is still a driving force in the Bee’s personality of today.
About NavigationArts
NavigationArts is a user experience consultancy that provides Internet strategy, usability, information architecture, interface design, content management, and development services. The firm creates exceptional online user experiences that drive business value for communications and commerce.