In 2009, Daniel Klein hired me to redesign the website of Econ Journal Watch, an academic journal of economics published online. I worked with Dan and the journal’s managing editor to establish a simple and meaningful outline of the site, which I built from the ground up using the robust and flexible Textpattern CMS for the journal’s content management needs. I revived the EJW identity by integrating branding elements from previous EJW media into the new design, while creating a more satisfying look and feel for the journal by retouching the logo and selecting a balanced color scheme.
But most of what I’ve done for EJW makes the publication run more smoothly behind the scenes: The CMS allows the editor to publish articles in multiple formats with one pass, including Web, PDF, and metadata feeds; previously, the editor had to manually enter the same information numerous times across several documents. The site’s new publishing platform has allowed us to continue pushing subtle refinements and new features with every issue since.