We chose to redesign the www.insanejournal.com homepage. The redesigned page can be found here. Although it is a professional, commercial site we thought it could be improved and redesigned for a cleaner and more professional look.
First we considered the color of the site. The original is done in a light peach color that we find to be unappealing and immature. We chose a mint green for the top banner displaying the name, “Insane Journal” with a login box for web site members to log into their personal journals.
Next we took out some of the original links on the top menu bar (located under the top banner). Some of the original links cannot be accessed unless the user is logged in so we decided to leave them off of the homepage and they will be available for logged in users. The top menu bar is now less cramped and does not have any links that cannot be used. (Links removed: MyIJ, My Friends, and Asylums)
We moved the Insane Journal mascot “Tweak” into the content page on the top right side because with the name, tweak and the “Tweak Says” the top banner was really busy. We edited the text of the content area of the page some because the original text was too crowded and too much for the home page. We also put more space between the lines to make it easier to read on a computer monitor.
Since space is an issue on this particular homepage we cut down the news stories posted near the bottom of the page. In the redesign we only posted the newest one. We decided to delete the links for the newest “Asylums,” or public communities that have been posted on the right side because they caused the content area to be cramped. These links will still be available to a logged in user.
With these changes we hope that the InsaneJournal homepage will be easier to read, navigate and overall more enjoyable for the user.