Bulletin: Introducing Our New Website
A New Year — and a New NYFA
Dear Users:
As you’ve surely noticed, everything looks different around here. At 12:01 AM EST on Wednesday, Jan. 15, NYFA launched a completely new website and interface. It offers a wealth of new features, and was designed with our users’ needs at center.
The new NYFA.org features major overhauls of the existing user- and administrative interfaces respectively, as well as a general consolidation and clarification of NYFA’s online content. We’ve reorganized everything, improved load times, and simplified the design. And that’s just the beginning. This is simply the first release of many more in our organization’s ongoing, soup-to-nuts technical overhaul. In the coming weeks and months, you can look forward to further refinements to your user experience. We eagerly welcome your feedback as we take these next steps.
What follows is a general list of release notes that highlight what’s different. What hasn’t changed is NYFA’s commitment to its mission — empowering the emerging artists and organizations who rely on the services, resources, programming, and fellowships we provide.
Release Notes
User Interface — Navigation
A streamlined top-navigation bar containing the following labels:
- About — NYFA’s mission, leadership, staff, a showcase of prominent artists it’s helped over the years, our Hall of Fame, and our annual reports.
- Programs — Clearer presentation of NYFA’s flagship programs and their purviews. Distinguishes a program (e.g. Awards and Grants) from its programming (e.g. BUILD Grants) and the resources and services it makes available (e.g. Curatorial Services).
- Resources — Consolidates NYFA’s resources, from Classifieds to the IAP directory, under a clear umbrella-style menu that allows users to reach exactly what they’re looking for. This change includes a total revamping of the NYFA Classifieds interface; users can now parse and filter job searches by a number of criteria previously unavailable, and advertisers can more easily post and specify types of listings.
- Support — New and updated content and a clearer integration of NYFA’s development activities, exciting special events, and sponsorships with the rest of NYFA.org
- News — A refinement of NYFA’s newsletters, bulletins, mail blasts and informational articles into a single newsfeed, NYFA Current, with a great deal of social functionality through its CMS (Tumblr). The News menu also highlights NYFA’s Young Patrons Blog and features a special NYFA Events widget.
Homepage
More engaging and integrated presentation of NYFA’s activities, mission and offerings. Our carousel at top highlights the latest goings-on; the events widget below it details what’s coming up; and the news feed at left keeps users connected to our community of emerging artists and arts organizations. The homepage also features the work of our Artists’ Fellows, as well as fiscally sponsored artists and organizations.
What’s Planned
— A revamping of NYFA Source, the most comprehensive nationwide database of awards, services, and publications for artists of all disciplines.
— Even more responsive designs. The site’s design is optimized for tablet, but we’ve got a mobile version in the works, and we’re excited about it.
— Changes to the online application interface for Artists’ Fellowships
— Archiving of all back issues of NYFA Quarterly and NYFA Chalkboard
Acknowledgments
We’d like to thank the following people, whose efforts carried us through the design and development process: Bryan Walsh, our developer, and Candace Shacklette, our Digital Media Intern.
We hope you enjoy!
Sincerely,
Alex Hatcher, Director of Technology
Nalini Abhiraman, Technology Officer
