Home : Design Portfolio : San Mateo County Transit Authority
San Mateo County Transit Authority
The San Mateo County Transit Authority (SMTCA) asked Booz Allen Hamilton to redesign their public web site. SMTCA wanted to replace a mostly text-based, center justified layout, with a site that featured graphical user elements and imagery. They wanted a site that was as sophisticated as the sites of two of the transit organizations they oversaw; Caltrain and SamTrans. I provided the three PhotoShop comps seen here. The client selected the design depicted in the first screenshot.
Click on the thumbnails to view screenshots of the comps or launch the site in a new window.
The Designs
The color palette of each design was drawn from the SMTCA logo. The images featured in each design were selected from SMTCA's inventory of stock photography. Each design features either a flexible "liquid" layout, or a centered, fixed-width "gelatin" layout.
The selected design features a liquid three column layout that places the global navigation on the left, content in the middle, and search and frequently visited links on the right. The flexible middle column widens or shrinks depending on the width of the browser window.
The first alternate design features a two column gelatin layout. The horizontal global navigation is positioned below the header bar. The narrow column on the right contains the frequently visited links. The patterned background provides structure when the site is viewed on a large screen.
The final design also features a two column gelatin layout. The vertical global navigation is placed on the right, while the main content appears on the left. The opacity of some of the graphics is used to create a layered look and add visual interest.