New Website Launched:
Mark Knopfler News
This month LMD launched the brand new official Mark Knopfler News website.
The brief was simple; make the superb existing content work better for users…so we did.
The Previous Website
The New Website
Site-wide features
The main feature we introduced was site-wide responsiveness; people now get an optimised and slightly different experience depending on whether they are on a desktop, tablet or mobile. This ensures people can enjoy using the site more than they did, and that the content really pops out.
The menu on the previous site was small and cluttered. There were also features elsewhere on site pages which could only be accessed from links in other pages. This didn’t create the best experience so for the new site we went to town and introduced a full-sized branded and customised responsive menu with all the page links on.
We introduced a subtle auto-scroll to anchor people down to the main content upon loading a page up. This allows a quick reminder of what page a person accessed before being automatically introduced to the main content of that page.
We made the mailing list much more prominent, and a feature on every page. After all, fans want to know when they can get to see Mark and the band play again as soon as possible without necessarily frequently visiting the website.
MKNews has a sister official website – markknopfler.com – which is predominantly for merchandise and for the US market. It was a conscious choice not to repeat things here so instead we made a site-wide banner for fans to be able to jump to the sister site ‘store’ section easily.
Social media was kind of hidden away on the previous site. There is a huge active fanbase on the social channels so we’ve ensured the facebook and twitter channels are available site-wide too in the footer area.
Lastly, we added a styled ‘back-to-top’ icon for fans to quickly go back up to the top of pages again.
The New Website
Site-wide features
The main feature we introduced was site-wide responsiveness; people now get an optimised and slightly different experience depending on whether they are on a desktop, tablet or mobile. This ensures that users can enjoy using the site more than they did, and that the content really shows up.
A really important feature of any site is the menu, so for the new site we’ve introduced a full-sized customised responsive menu with all the page links clearly visible.
We also introduced a subtle auto-scroll to anchor users down to the main content upon uploading a page . This allows a quick reminder of what page was accessed before being automatically introduced to the main content of that page.
We made the mailing list much more prominent, and a feature on every page. After all, fans want to know when they can get to see Mark and the band play again as soon as possible without necessarily frequently visiting the website.
MKNews has a sister official website – markknopfler.com – which is predominantly for merchandise and for the USA market. It was a conscious choice not to repeat things here so instead we made a site-wide banner for fans to be able to jump to the sister site ‘store’ section easily.
Social media needs to be visible and accessible. There is a huge active fanbase on the social channels so we’ve ensured the Facebook and Twitter channels are available site-wide too in the footer area.
Lastly, we added a styled ‘back-to-top’ icon for fans to quickly go back up to the top of pages again.
Tours Page
Mark Knopfler has toured the world many times over with an array of his current and back catalogue. We wanted to be able to show, easily and in a highly visual way, how to jump to a particular tour of interest no matter what device they are on. Perhaps they were at a particular gig and want now to remember some of the songs they heard that night. We managed to do this by combining responsive tables in a ‘Tab’ feature.
Tours Page
Mark Knopfler has toured the world many times over with an array of his current and back catalogue. We wanted to be able to show people easily and in a highly visual way, how to jump to a particular tour of interest no matter what device they are on. Perhaps they were at a particular gig and want now to remember some of the songs they heard that night. We managed to do this by combining responsive tables in a ‘Tab’ feature.
Your Turn Page
This page is for fans to connect their experience of meeting Mark, or their feelings on what Mark means to them, with other fans. There is also a set of polls where fans can vote for their favourite songs, and immediately see the results in a highly visual way.
Your Turn Page
This page is for fans to connect their experience of meeting Mark, or their feelings on what Mark means to them, with other fans. There is also a set of polls where fans can vote for their favourite songs, and immediately see the result of their votes in a highly visual way. These were, of course available on the previous site
Timeline Page
We implemented a timeline feature which takes people through segments of Mark’s career in around 5-8 year chunks, all in a vertical timeline. We applied a large parallax style feature image of Mark behind the timeline too for the added touch. Fans can click through to a segment of interest and read some extremely detailed and in part previously unknown material. A real bonus for any seasoned fan!
Releases Page
Like with Tours, we wanted an easy entry point for people to jump into a particular album of interest. Once there we wanted to extend the experience further by showing credits, song lyrics, a teaser soundbite of each song and a bonus YouTube feed mostly of rare footage about that album. We also wanted to do this all on one page, again no matter what device people are on.
From the start, LMD really understood that what we needed was a quality modern look and feel to bring to life the work that has been put in over the years on the content of MKNews. I am delighted and grateful for the additional care that has been taken on such a personal project.
So there we have it; another satisfied client!…
Perhaps you have a similar need for your website; maybe it needs a makeover and bringing into the 21st century? If so, we would love to help you.
Why not contact us today and we can have a chat about your needs and goals. In the meantime take a look for yourself at the new MKNews website to find out more about one of Britain’s most fantastic musicians.
