PatrickTopia

10 Years of Strength

The Project

The goal was to document ten years of progress in the Army since September 11, 2001. There's a timeline for every year, and the site highlights six key "Pillars of Strength."

What I Did

This was the first project I led as Army.mil's Creative Director. I designed the site and managed its development, which was done primarily by William Deacon. We decided to use Metafizzy's wonderful Isotope for the timeline, a great suggestion from John Heiner who helped get the project started.

What I Learned

Get a realistic expectation of what content you'll be getting before you've finished a design, and make sure the design is flexible just in case. Be ready and willing to compromise if need be.

10 Years of Strength 2010 timeline screenshot

Thanks to Isotope, the layout of each year's timeline is dynamic and content is easily added and edited. Items can be filtered according to the "Pillars of Strength" and expanded for more information.

10 Years of Strength index screenshot

The index page explains the six "Pillars of Strength" the site focuses on.

10 Years of Strength timeline original design comp

My original design. I felt it was more readable and modern, and it would have required fewer images. Sometimes you have to compromise and I was pleased that I was able to quickly come up with another design with a very different feel that still functioned in the same way.