Sector(s)
Project Team
Inclind
Bryan Cordrey
Nick Bumgarner
Veronica Severyn
Threespot
Jack Nank
Spence Nelson
Sid Barcelona
Raven Best
Megan Lewin-Smith
Visit the site
Visit the siteThe Pulitzer Center raises awareness of underreported global issues through direct support for quality journalism across all media platforms and a unique program of education and public outreach. Nearly a year ago, the Center started work on two ambitious projects—a complete redesign of the Pulitzer Center website and a brand new website showcasing their Rainforest Journalism Fund initiative.
The Pulitzer Center’s Drupal 7 website was in need of an upgrade.In tandem to the effort, the organization wanted to develop and launch a site for the Rainforest Journalism Fund (RJF). Through the Pulitzer Center, the RJF supports original reporting projects over five years, along with annual regional conferences designed to raise the level of reporting on global tropical rainforest issues like deforestation and climate change–leading to stories that make a difference.
Creative firm Threespot and Inclind, a Drupal development agency, partnered to redesign and redevelop the existing Center website and design and build the new RJF microsite. RJF launched in October 2020 and the Pulitzer Center website launched in January 2021.
About the project
Challenge
The Pulitzer Center faced the challenge of executing a project of this magnitude during the global pandemic. With in-person collaboration impossible, the Center noted that, “ a large, technically challenging design project can be achieved by teams connecting exclusively through digital communications tools like Zoom and Slack.”
From a technical standpoint, the biggest challenge in this project included the large volume of legacy content from the original Pulitzer Center website that needed to be cleanly migrated.
Goals
The project goals were as follows:
Upgrade from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 and develop of a new microsite on Drupal 8.
Integrate a new, modern design with significant visuals.
Provide a story map or a visual representation of where stories were written.
Develop a catalog of custom Gutenberg components to facilitate better visual storytelling by content editors.
Accommodate translation of the RJF site into five different languages.
Outcome
The Pulitzer Center describes the main website as featuring “a bold new design, with a homepage that crisply presents the journalism, education, and outreach programs that are key to our mission. The new platform includes robust editing tools that allow us to create stunning page layouts similar, we believe, to what's achievable on platform leaders like Medium and Shorthand.
“Half of our website visitors are viewing the site on mobile devices. The new websites speak to that reality, with tile- and card-based design allowing for easy navigation whether you are: on a phone, tablet, or desktop computer. A new approach to content allows us to better showcase members of our community, as well as provide easy access to resources for educators, students, journalists, and the general public.”
Why Drupal was chosen
The Pulitzer Center website was already on Drupal 7, so the organization had a comfort level established with the platform. Stories of a journalistic nature are a big piece of the website and Drupal facilitated the review process required for collaboration to a final published article.
Technical Specifications
Drupal version:
