five facts site
The Challenge
The Stonewall Riots were a series of riots that took place in 1969, outside the wildly popular Stonewall Inn in New York City. It had a storied history and a tumultuous present even before the riots took place. These riots cemented the inn’s place in queer history and remain significant to this day.
This project was part of a larger movement to celebrate important protests, riots, and revolutions throughout U.S. history, using a series of experimental one-page websites. I wanted to highlight the unknown history of Stonewall, as well as its impact on us today.
Competitive Analysis
I made sure to look through some of the other entries submitted by my peers. These included projects on everything from the March for Science to the George Floyd Protests. The only requirements were that the websites be restricted to one page, and feature five major facts about the subject.
The pieces vary greatly, from the simple or limited to the bold or dynamic. I chose a few that inspired me the most, and set to work drafting my own page.
Initial Comps
These are my first drafts of the site. experimented with many different layouts and formats, with little in common but their most general attributes. I knew I needed a title for each fact, the content, as well as individual images and an overarching navigation.
I quickly decided that I wanted a bold, strong navigation— something that adequately represented the Stonewall Riots at first glance. I played with the original colors of Gilbert Baker’s flag, different content frames, the sharp angles of the progress flag, and more.
comps
I loved the strong, aggressive angles I pulled from the progress flag. It wasn’t quite as historically accurate as the Baker flag, but was much easier to integrate into the website as a legible navigation. I also thought it worked well as a visual bridge between the history of the LGBTQ+ movement and where we are today.
Each title functions as a link to a different section of the page, with the title, “The Stonewall Riots,” taking viewers back to the top. I was immediately happy with the concept, though it took some time to properly implement.
final WEBSITE
The final page is easy to understand, and presents all the information quickly and concisely. I’m happy with how unified it turned out- from the color scheme, to the images, and especially the rainbow-toned ring at the end. It was an interesting and fun experiment in unusual web design, and one that I hope encourages many people to look into the Stonewall Riots on their own.
Explore the website here!