Black and Asian History Map

Amongst Channel 4's cultural programming, Black and Asian History month is one of the most important annual events. The project was devised by Channel 4 to provide a gateway to websites across the UK that provides valuable information on Black and Asian History. Getfrank was commissioned to produce the black and Asian History map, an exciting interface to a search engine which catalogues the diverse website projects occurring in the UK over a three year period.

Click the numbers to see further illustrations from this project.

Solution

Web sites gathered by Channel 4 ranged from personal and family histories to the contributions made by black and Asian people in music, medicine, the arts, sports and politics. Getfrank identified two key areas of the project that required specific skills and close integration. Working closely with Channel 4 Learning and database developers Analystic, the information to be stored and presented was clearly defined in order that an overall information architecture could be established. In parallel, Getfrank used its expertise in interactive design and animation to create an interface that enabled users to search and explore sites using a map, a history timeline, subject and keyword search methods. An administrative tool was also developed to enable Channel 4 to add content to the database and release it to the live site.