The project I chose from Vectors was the Public Secrets project. This project is a collection of stories from inmates at a Women’s Prison, and also contains commentary about visiting the prison by the lead on the project, Sharon Daniel. The goal of the project is to expose the corruption of the United States’ legal punitive system, as the stories told by these female inmates reveal issues of guard harassment, inattentive medical staff, and more. Daniel also gets stories about the inmate’s lives before prison – many of which are full of trauma and hardship – and how the difficult living environments they grew up in are only further punished by a severe and unforgiving prison system.
The site itself has an interesting and effective interface. Upon opening the website, Daniel gives a voice-over introduction to the project as black shapes work their way across a white background, which later turns into a grey scale painting of a skull. This introductory sequence can be skipped by clicking a button on the bottom right of the screen, which is also the case for later voice over sequences. This “skip” feature is useful because it widens the appeal of the site; those who want to be fully immersed can listen through every sequence, and those who want to get to the main content can skip the sequences. The colors used in these sequences – black, white, and grey – are perfect at setting the atmosphere of the project, which focuses on the dismal, colorless, and lifeless nature of the prisons. The project uses a light blue as the hover color, which serves as a nice accent color that still does not contradict the gravity of the subject matter. In the project, one woman is interviewed about how she pictures the outside world, and she says she thinks about the ocean, the beach, and parks – all places that are vibrant and vivid, a strict contrast from the prison and its courtyard.
After the opening sequence, the site can be browsed via a menu on the side. In each of the menu categories, the page is full of different sized boxes that contain statements made by inmates and others, as well as story categories:
The user can either hover over or click on the quote to begin playing the recording of the statement. Additionally, when hovering over, the option to “Read Transcript” appears at the top of the statement box. Clicking on this opens up a new menu that shows the transcript of the statement, while giving options on the right-hand side to rewind, scroll through, or pause the audio. These options once more give the user the ability to control their experience on the site. Below these options, there is also a button that takes the user to more stories from that inmate. And just as there is a “Read Transcript” option at the top of the box, there is also an option at the bottom of the box to see more stories connected to the same topic.
I think these design decisions were made because they are not overwhelming in information or style, and they have smooth transitions that feel pleasing to use. And putting the statements of the inmates in boxes is symbolic of their entrapped nature, as they are =enclosed by their cells, by the prison, and by the verdicts and methods of the punitive system. I especially like that they use quotes from the statements rather than trying to title each of the stories, because it exemplifies the notion that the project is trying to make these women and their struggles heard, not to categorize them or turn them into statistics. All in all, I think this project has a refined and useful interface that works well to convey the project message, while also providing tools for the user to define his/her experience with the site.