Design Review: I’mWithFred
I saw a political website that I liked for Fred Thompson. I even like the URL, I’m With Fred dot com. Most politicians take themselves way too seriously, and I thought this was a nice change. This will be a simple review, I just had a few comment I’d like to make.
The key to this design in my view is the simplicity.
- Simple color scheme
- Simple graphics
- Simple layout
- No animation or flash in the basic site design
I was shocked. A nice clean layout without all of that @#$% that this sort of site usually has. Political sites are usually design by committee nightmares at best. Maybe this will turn into one of those, but the initial site is refreshing.
A blog with open comments was another nice touch. I was particularly impressed by the fact that Mr. Thompson actually appeared to be doing some of the blogging. We’ll see how that turns out. I’ve been less than impressed with celebrity blogging as a whole, but his first few posts were not bad. No long diatribes. Just short notes about current events for the most part.
I’m not sure what I think of this campaign politically, but I’m impressed with the way they’ve put together this site and using it to their advantage. It appears to be well thought out, and well executed. While this alone won’t get my vote, it will keep me watching to see what he has to say. When it comes down to it, keeping people watching what Fred Thompson has to say should be the primary purpose behind this site, and in my opinion, it’s fulfilling this duty well.
Trackposted to Perri Nelson’s Website, Blue Collar Muse, Committees of Correspondence, third world county, Right Truth, The World According to Carl, The Amboy Times, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
I know did the post a month ago, but when I visited “I’mWithFred.com” I was impressed too. I think the design is good and I’m also impressed with their integration to myspace, twitter, facebook, etc.
What’s different here is that the people behind this actually thought through their objectives and how to use social networks, blogs, etc. technology to achieve them. Apprently, Fred even twitters.
Do you have any idea what they are using on the back-end? That’s actually how I cam across this post. Looks like some kind of juiced-up active server CMS.
Anyhow, I really enjoy your analysis of blogs and blog and design. It’s esepcially fascinating, because you seem to like and notice the same things in site design. Except for one thing - how would you analyze your own site?
Comment by Brian Deeley — July 15, 2007 @ 12:12 am
I haven’t looked to see what they’re running on the back end, but now I’m curious. I’ll let you know if I figure anything out.
My site? I probably wouldn’t give myself a particularly good grade. I play around with my site too much, and I do what I personally like rather than what’s good or appropriate. A more appropriate design and staying on task in terms of writing would likely do wonders for my traffic.
Comment by HDW — July 16, 2007 @ 6:12 am
Thanks HDW. Thanks being frank about your own site. I have the same problem - my own execution never seems to live up my expectations of other sites.
I was thinking maybe ImWithFred is backended with CommunityServer, but other being ASP, there didn’t seem to be any other giveaways. (Which is potentially another good quality of this site - it doesn’t look the same as the x-hundred sites using the same backend)
Comment by Brian Deeley — July 18, 2007 @ 2:03 pm
The problem with designing my own site is that I have an idiot for a client. I can never make up my mind on what I want, and I’m never finished. I’m much better with paid projects, because I make sure that the scope of the project is clearly defined.
Comment by HDW — July 18, 2007 @ 3:37 pm
I took another look, and I agree. Other than the aspx format, I don’t really see any giveaways. I’d consider that a plus from a security point of view. The blog is of course WordPress, but you probably knew that.
Comment by HDW — July 18, 2007 @ 3:44 pm
If Fred runs for president, I would like hime to walk out before people and say “I am running for the good of the American people, not for myself.” I want them to tell me what they want me to do for them and the problems they want me to solve for them. That he intends to make a list of priorities that Americans want and promise to do his best to solve them for the good of Americans because He is going to listen to them. President Bush never listens to the common hard-working people want, but tells them what he is going to shove down everyone’s throat. Fred, sit down on a bench in small towns with common people and talk to them and ask them what they want you to do. Tell them you are running to help Americans and not yourself. Go Fred!
Comment by carolyn auman — August 6, 2007 @ 5:15 pm