Designed for Vassar College, 2011 · economics.vassar.edu

Historian Thomas Carlyle called economics the "dismal science". Vassar's Economics Department didn't agree with that. They wanted a site that presented economics as a modern, applied area of study—something useful for understanding current events, future outcomes, and the workings of the world. Not boring, not dry, and definitely not dismal.

Econ logos

Design

I experimented with a number of ideas before settling on the final direction, but I knew from the start that I wanted something open and rational, with hints of a ledger or notebook. A number of the other economics-related sites I reviewed had a lot of references to wealth and currency, and, given the range of interests described by the department, I thought emphasizing the financial aspect of economics seemed a little too narrowly focused. Something that could be either an accountant's ledger or a student's notebook seemed more appropriate for setting a tone, rather than defining a category. I also decided to avoid extensive use of serif typefaces—something I'd initially thought might convey the political/governmental side of economics—as the department had expressed concern about appearing stodgy. A more geometrical sans typeface seemed like the best option, and, after considering a few different ones, I finally chose Museo.

Early Thoughts

I explored a number of initial ideas and approaches. My main goal in these was getting away from the uninviting stereotype the department had expressed concerns over, and presenting economics as something more than a colorless world of numbers and theories. As part of my research, I'd reviewed a number of abstracts for papers published by the department, and that helped to give me a sense of what they studied; there were papers on topics such as social issues, patents, foreign policy, and of course law and finance. I came up with a list of themes to incorporate into the masthead and sitewide illustrations - supply and demand, logistics, transportation, shipping, currency, and national/international policy - and then built them into letters and illustrations. (That N is destined for Poughkeepsie. Special delivery for the Vassar Economics department!)

Econ collage masthead

Mastheads

Econ mastheads

"Economics" is loaded with letters that can be turned into things. I tried a range of solutions, from a mainly typographic masthead with only a couple of letters changed, to the entirely graphical masthead above.

Illustrations

Econ illustrations

I'd had an original idea of doing a series of illustrations for various pages on the site. That didn't happen, mostly because of limited time, but I spent some time working with icons, collages, and symbols. As part of my initial design research, I'd gotten some inspiration from bus/train station and airport signage - they had a global feel that I thought meshed well with the global aspect of economics. While the icons went by the wayside, the typography from those signs inspired me to use a similarly modern typeface for most of the site typography.

Experiments

Econ initial ideas

I have to say I really liked some of the dark themes I came up with: the slightly textured gray that could be a power suit, a blackboard, or an airport tarmac. Ultimately, though, I didn't think it worked particularly well with the other ideas I had in mind.