'The Pendergast Years' Website Art Direction
In 2018 the digital history team at the Kansas City Public Library completed a years-long development of a website dedicated to examining Kansas City in the Prohibition era under infamous political boss Tom Pendergast: The Pendergast Years: Kansas City in the Jazz Age & Great Depression.The site is a repository of articles, photos, and other historical documentation, providing scholars, students, and general history enthusiasts with tools and resources to gain a greater understanding of this transformational time in the city's history.
I was responsible for the project's art direction, creating the design aesthetic for the site itself as well as a variety of marketing materials, for which I drew much inspiration from the period's art deco movement. I also collaborated with the Library's web developer and digital history team to review user experience considerations and develop content styling, page design, and other visual applications throughout the site.
The digital history project has gone on to receive several awards, including the 2019 Award of Excellence from the American Association for State and Local History.
Marketing materials for the site consisted largely of social media graphics and other digital marketing, which also encouraged history lovers to follow an Instagram account set up to share some of the photos from the site's vast collections.
I also developed a promotional bookmark to highlight the site's resources, which was regularly distributed at the Library's local history speaker series events, provided to schools and educators, and made available at other community activities.
