Changing the CMS meant the opportunity to rethink everything.
The previous version of the site was built on two separate CMS's. Migrating and merging into a singular CMS was the main driver for a redesign, but we took the opportunity to question everything that had been done before. Overhauls for the redesign include taxonomy, ad sizes, native content slots, and more editorial control.
New storytelling templates are being created as you read this.
Moving the site into WordPress meant we could develop and iterate faster than ever before. We are constantly testing and improving the site, and giving editors new tools to lovingly craft their stories.
Building the taxonomy from the ground up.
The site contains 40 years of magazine content, four publications, a dozen blogs, over 75,000 stories, and 150,000 images. Phew! Categorizing and tagging content properly was a humongous task in of itself. We had to be smart about how we structure the site, create flexible ways to curate like-minded stories, and be clever about resurfacing older, but still relevant content.
Credits
Publisher: D Magazine
Role: Digital & Creative Director
Developers: Adam Anderly & Christina Rees
Fact Checkers, Editors, Photographers, Producers, and many more.