Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan Landing Page Redesign
A redesign of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs landing page from a traditional to a modern layout.
Duration
4 weeks
Team
Individual
Skills
Visual Design, Web Design
Identifying current pain points
A cluttered, overwhelming, and unorganized page
The elements in the website were not spaced out well, are in extreme close proximity with each other, and overall, are not consistently aligned.
The solution
Redesigning the landing page towards a cleaner, organized interface
For local citizens living abroad or foreign citizens entering Japan.
Constructing the building blocks for the new design
Identifying the best composition style.
The composition, the organization of information on the website, was the backbone for this redesign, and I needed to find ways to structure the myriad information from the initial design that is most useful for the users.
Minimalism, modern, and simple.
Taking inspiration from minimal use of monochromatic color scheme and spacious negative spaces would be my guide to create a clean, appealing, and legible interface that was sorely needed.
Switzer for modern and professional.
Given the website's role as a representative of the country's diplomatic interests, a professional typeface is required. Its san-serif typeface adds to the modern feel intended for the redesign as well.
Klein Blue for authority and trust
The final design
Next steps
Implementing the design style across the entire website
As its compositional issues could be seen throughout.
Reflection
This website redesign was my first introduction into visual design after having been taught typography, color, composition and mood boards a month prior. This exercise served as a great opportunity to grasp these concepts so I know how to work with them better moving forward. A number of things I learned after working on this project:
1. Learned how to use moodboards to convey my direction for the design. This was an area I had great difficulties understanding, particularly identifying the right images to convey my intended “mood”.
2. Understanding the foundations of composition layouts, such as hierarchy of information and axial relationships.
3. Realized the incredible importance of negative spacing, and how it influences readability.