Full redesign and restructuring of a content-heavy site amidst a rebrand.
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King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes 150 comics, cartoons, puzzles, games and horoscopes to more than 5,000 newspapers worldwide. This project was centered around redesigning their Comics Kingdom website.
The main design goals of the project were to innovate the comics reading experience and engage a younger audience while still appealing to their current demographic.
Design Vision
I injected personality through custom illustrations and playful animations to create an engaging user experience, all while keeping accessibility and the content itself at the forefront. Through the restructuring of the site and use of visual hierarchy, the site has gained a clearer pathway for how to find content.
Visual Direction
Since this brand is the connector between comic readers and comic creators, the direction had to represent the joy of both experiences while maintaining a modern and professional feel. I landed on moments of fun seen through animations, illustrations, and even untraditional card layouts.
When creating the custom pattern used in background treatments, I pulled inspiration from a pattern style seen in manga called nawa-ami—a traditional cross hatching style to denote deep thought—and mixed it with the motif of fingerprints—the idea of identity and the artist’s mark on their work.
Illustrations
As someone who has dabbled in comic/manga creation and loves illustrating, I knew this project deserved a personal touch akin to the comics being housed on the Comics Kingdom website. I used Procreate to sketch custom illustrations in order to introduce the personality and passion the CK team has.
Comics Reader
The team and I knew this would be the most challenging portion of the redesign as we had to find a solution to house both short-form (both single and multi-paneled) and long-form comics. All the while, our aim was to introduce a social structure and easy scroll experience so that users could be fully immersed and not have their reading interrupted.
The Solve
I went with a dark interface so that the comics themselves would pop off the screen, colors amplified against the stark background.
In order to keep users in the comics reader without interruption, we introduced an “endless” social-like scrolling feed for short-form and chapter controls for long-form. Our UX team did a great job defining the functionality differences needed for both.
To ensure the user is always in control of their experience, I made the filters at the top of the comics reader remain sticky as the user scrolls down the page. These filters allow users to tailor their experience further.
Diving into the social cues more, I placed the actions the user needs at their finger tips, from commenting and sharing, to saving and buying prints.
Interactivity
For cards, I wanted to showcase a surprising interaction that left users delighted. Having the characters pop up on hover was a good way to show the users they would be entering that character’s world, while having a differentiated hover effect. The front-end developer truly made my vision come to life while adding her professional touch to each animation.
For buttons and links, I tied the animation back to the idea of growth. With that, I thought of having the color grow in and encapsulate the shape—or text in the case of the link.
Having a surprise element appear from behind elements like cards tied into the overall theme of “bites of delight.”
Key Solves
Clearer Calls to Action
The use of color and content hierarchy now helps guide users through the pages easily and allows for more discovery.
More Cohesive & Layered Brand Use
The brand feels intentional and enriched with elements that nod to their audience and the company’s DNA.
Modern Comic Reader Experience
Ensuring we kept a mobile-first approach, the comic reader experience is now elevated to keep the users in control and doing what they enjoy most: reading comics.
I was invited to discuss the Comics Kingdom project from start to finish on King Features’ podcast, Inside the Kingdom.