49th Shelf
Responsive web design · UX · HTML/CSS
49th Shelf is a very large online database of books by Canadian authors. The diverse audience includes indivdual readers, bookstore owners, publishers, librarians, and teachers. In addition to the database, the site also features writing and recommendations on books.
The old site design was cramped,hampered by a right rail that contained little useful information, and had a somewhat dull color scheme. The site had been adapted to serve responsive needs, but the overall design hampered the support.
The primary objective of the redesign was to strip away the UI cruft and focus on the books. Book information would be rearranged cleanly and organized logically. In addition, we hoped to create a more tactile sense of book browsing, but without the excesses of skeuomorphism. Books in lists are presented as sitting upright on a plane, with a shadow as a sense of volume.
