Marvel.com

This project engaged my inner geek like no other. Iron Man had just been released and Marvel was transitioning from a comic book publisher to a global entertainment giant, so they needed some help redefining their online presence.

Working with IPK, I helped re-structure the site in a way that would allow users to easily explore the entire catalog of Marvel comics, movies and TV shows and expose them to other relevant properties along the way. This involved a careful examination of the complexities of the Marvel universe, which is made up of thousands of comic titles with multiple variations (Astonishing X-Men or Uncanny X-Men?) and a cosmos of characters with various incarnations (Tony Stark Iron Man, or Rhodey Rhodes Iron Man?) All this came quite naturally to someone who used to re-organize his comic collection on a regular basis. (By artist or by date? Still can’t decide.)

Once we defined the site architecture and navigation strategy, we built a rather elaborate set of wireframes that mapped out a number of use-cases, then conducted user testing to make sure the site would feel welcoming to both the casual Iron Man fan and the die hard aficionado wondering whether Galactus or Uatu the Watcher would win in a fight on Earth-111. (Answer: Galactus)

The bulk of our thinking is still present in the live site, though I’d still love a chance to give it a makeover.

www.marvel.com