case studies: The Charlotte Observer
Industry
Media and Publishing
Awards
Web Marketing Association's Best Newspaper Website of 2009
Client
The Charlotte Observer is an award-winning newspaper based out of Charlotte, North Carolina, and owned by the McClatchy Company. It is the the most widely circulated newspaper in North Carolina and South Carolina.
Challenge
Editorial design on the web presents one of the biggest challenges for newspapers today. When the Observer approached NavigationArts, they were dealing with a clunky, difficult-to-navigate site, with little appeal to the increasing numbers of digital-only consumers.
Solution
The goal of the website redesign was to reflect the the Observer's physical quality in a digital setting while specifically focusing on information around the Charlotte community.
Project Results Included:
- Separation of the Observer's multiple reader lanes - which at the outset included a combination newspaper website and vacation/destination portal - by changing the URL from www.charlotte.com to www.charlotteobserver.com
- Restructure of the homepage from a sea of links to top and sub nav content prioritization
- Clarification and discipline around the homepage to a fixed number of stories
- Focus on multimedia content via design of an elegant widget to showcase video clips and pictures
- User-generated content capabilities to connect the Observer's community of readers
- Dynamic jQuery-enabled (JavaScript) front-end with slide shows, tabbed controls, and other modern widgets
- CSS-based layout
For a more detailed look at our work with the Charlotte Observer, including technology highlights, download the full case study.