The final project of the semester, the Interface Redesign was a simple but effective way of putting what we’d been discussing in class to work. We were tasked with redesigning a website or an interface on a page (like Twitter’s posting interface or something similar). Keeping in line with my theme of nerd content, I chose to redesign the Dungeons and Dragons website, or at least a portion of it. The News and Podcast sections of the site were scrunched together, leaving little explanation or detail on what the article/podcast was about. It led to users, in this case even an experienced player like myself, to have to click each page just to see exactly what they were discussing.

The problem with the site right now is that all listed content, outside of a few exceptions, is devoid of any real description. Simplistic images are shown that don’t represent the topic at hand, and no description of the content is given. An article titled “Subclasses, Part 3” has no information on it regarding what it is talking about. As an avid player, I know what subclasses are, but to the unexperienced this means nothing, and even I have no idea what that article holds. Podcasts are shown, but the space given to them is hardly enough to give an accurate explanation of what that podcast is about. Basically, the issue is the bad use of space. Huge white spice sits on both sides of the screen, yet the information feels crammed and cluttered.

So, for the redesign, I laid out their content in a much easier to understand layout. Putting the content in two separate columns immediately allowed for more content to be shown at once, and showed what content was newest vs oldest. It also allowed me to put more information underneath each article/podcast, allowing for brief but informative descriptions. I think this allows new people coming to the site – and even some veteran players – a more streamlined experience. They can find the information their seeking (in this case news or podcasts) much easier without wasting time visiting and quickly skimming each on until they find what they need.

Then, to fill up some leftover space, I put the Descent into Avernus ad in the middle. This ad would move with the screen as the person scrolled down the page, making it feel more like a backdrop rather than an ad. A more skilled web designer (or in my case Photoshop user) could have done something a little prettier, but I think what I have below gets the point across well enough – at least as a representation.

We discussed a lot about website design and information flow, and how white space is usually wasted on most pages.

As for the revisions, I had a hard time finding something to change without drastically modifying all the work I’d done so far. I knew this was one portion of the overall homepage for Dungeons and Dragons, and so that restricted me from adding anything about other pages or anything like that. So, I noticed I still had a few white spaces in between podcasts, and that the descriptions were lacking a little bit.

So, I added more space to each section of the podcasts. I didn’t add much more description, just filler words, but the point is that this will allow for even more in depth information on the podcast; who is on, what the topic is, sponsors, etc.