WEBSITES FOR PUBLIC BODIES

Businesses and websites come and go, and many sites that I’ve built are no longer online. Launched in 2002, those of the Scottish Land Court (shown above) and its companion site for the Lands Tribunal for Scotland, are the oldest still active in my design portfolio.

• Concept. The Court and the Tribunal are independent civil courts. They have separate and distinct jurisdictions, but the two are closely related and share the same offices. I was approached simultaneously by both bodies to produce a website for each. I proposed developing “sister” sites sharing the same page design, echoing the relationship between the organisations. My approach reduced the design cost to the clients.
• Custom design. The status of the bodies as courts of law dictated that the visual design should convey a conservative, serious impression. I chose the most traditional of colour palettes; red, white and shades of blue. The logos and page background graphics were derived from crests that already adorned the organisations’ business cards and letterheads. To balance the traditional visuals, I chose a modern, highly legible sans serif typeface to render the text.
• Responsive layout. The web page layout is fully responsive; it automatically adjusts and adapts to any device screen size, be it a desktop computer, a laptop, a tablet, or a mobile phone.
• Content and architecture. I discussed and agreed with the Court and the Tribunal what content should be presented on the sites, and how they should be structured to accommodate it. The two bodies were individually responsible for developing and providing all of the content. A key requirement was that they should be able to add copies of significant Court and Tribunal decisions when they are handed down, and my design and build of the sites had to allow for this need. Several hundred decisions have been posted to the sites since they were launched.
• Domain registration, hosting and maintenance. I registered the domain names for both bodies, and the websites are hosted on DECEMBER14 servers. I also maintain the sites, and both have been through two major code overhauls, several design refinements and a few functional additions since their inauguration.

www.scottish-land-court.org.uk
www.lands-tribunal-scotland.org.uk

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