Western Sydney University
Sydney Review of Books
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Testimonial
“We were looking for an elegant and creative approach to refreshing our digital presence and enhancing our website’s accessibility. With Public, we felt in extremely safe hands thanks to their integrated approach to design and development. What the team delivered far exceeded our expectations, rebuilding our website around an innovative visual system and search engine that have not only brought new readers to the journal, but also vastly improved our workflow processes. They were consultative at every step of the way and created a product that truly reflects the principles and purpose of our organisation.”
– James Jiang, Editor, Sydney Review of Books
About
We created a new digital platform for the Sydney Review of Books to maintain their position at the forefront of digital publishing.
Four years after building the original site, SRB returned to us for a complete redesign — one that could better support their large digital archive and offer a fresh visual identity. We updated the tech stack, moved from Wordpress to Prismic, and integrated Algolia to make their database of essays, interviews, and reviews fast and searchable.
Something special
A special feature is the a generative design tool built specifically for SRB. It produces unique, form-based artwork for every article from an in browser tool where the team inputs a title and a design is generated based on the amount of letters, vowels and non-vowels. Despite being a small part of the budget, this tool became a key part of SRB’s refreshed digital brand. Read Will McLean’s deep dive on how this works on in this SRB article.
Uncovering the archive
The custom SRB search is a central part of the project both technically and conceptually. We needed to create a responsive and easy launch pad for new and veteran users alike. All while incorporating the generated assets, it’s a pleasure to use.
Save for later
My list allows users to save reads for later or put a book mark in articles or reviews for later. This was a must for reader retention and an interactive way for readers to stay engaged with the content.
