As my colleague Simon Dixon has already blogged we’ve worked together yet again to deliver a website that breaks new ground. The most interesting part being the Lifestream, a first we believe for a Member of Parliament bringing together all of their social media, networking and work within the House. You can see quickly and easily Lynne Featherstone’s activities from day to day be it on Twitter, the Blog, Facebook or Flickr. You can also see the transcript from Hansard and Early Day Motions. This gives a level of transparency unheard of by most MPs, if you’re a constituent you really can see what your elected member is doing from day to day, almost hour to hour if she’s tweeting from the chamber.
The old site was rich in content but due for a refresh. We’ve brought it up to date, it’s friendlier and more engaging with more features, a better structure and functionality. As the designer I wanted to keep and enhance the Lib Dem branding but instead of flat tone make it a richer palette of golds. Yellow can be seen as a weak colour, especially in something as confrontational as politics. But it is the colour that the Lib Dems own and leverage to great advantage. The obvious partner was rich blacks and greys with a contrasting tuquoise/green for emphasis and linking. Personally I think that the whole Lib Dem branded offering could do with an update, the general election is looming and there’s a lot here in this project than could be built upon.
The header pictures are large but paired back to black and white so as not to overwhelm the page. They rotate on a random basis. She’s a very busy and active MP, campaigning on a lot of local issues, straddling all the diverse communities and interest groups within her north London constituency. So in order to show all of her activities the pages change with each visit. They also cover her national work so users don’t forget her work at Westminster.
We’ve tried to bring it up to date, give access to Lynne and detail her activities. It’s in a public beta stage as some of our new mapping technology beds in.
As a postscript I live in the constituency so it’s good to see my MP supporting local talent!
Update: have since also completed a elegantly tooled twitter background to compliment the site http://twitter.com/lfeatherstone
