History for Tomorrow

Using the web to rewire America’s past

Americans have an enduring fascination with the past. As a comparatively young nation, we are perpetually trying to make sense of where we are by considering where we came from. Bunk, led by Edward Ayers and Tony Field, began building an extensive archive to show how every new representation of the American story is part of a larger, and longer, conversation.

The past is being remade constantly. What better way to show this than to create a living, breathing web application?

The challenge

Bunk needed to help visitors discover unexpected historical connections and see, for perhaps the first time, the context surrounding each event in the past and present.

The site had to achieve the opposite effect of the Google algorithm, which shows readers what they already want to read. Instead, Bunk’s platform needed to invite visitors to explore its archive and then experience that rare internet emotion: surprise.

Bunk needed design in the largest sense of the word: a team who could not only create a beautiful experience but also make sense of an expanding web of information.

Bunk had a world-renowned historian (Ayers) and a professional storyteller (Field), but it did not have a design partner. Bunk needed design in the largest sense of the word: a team who could not only create a beautiful experience but also make sense of an expanding web of information.

Journey Group was invited to overcome this design challenge and create an interactive application for Bunk.

The work

The primary motivation behind Journey Group’s work for Bunk was to fight for clarity and discovery on behalf of the site visitor.

First, the team simplified the endeavor. In the approach to designing and building the site, Journey Group partnered with the Bunk team to declutter and resist the temptation to expose all of the metadata, which could overwhelm visitors.

The Journey Group team established an extensive, consistent nomenclature for Bunk to use throughout the site, developing navigational clarity for readers, and also created “collections” — groups of stories that Bunk’s producers could build around particular topics and themes.

Previously, stories in the Bunk archive were loosely arranged. Connections between stories were murky, and the element of surprise was absent. The Bunk team did not have a straightforward method to harvest all of the information that they had. Journey Group determined the best way to display each story and then show the connected stories from the past or present, shaping the app around a logical and elegant new architecture.

Bunk had a backend but only rote ways to express the information. Journey Group’s creative director, senior digital designer and web developers invented a brand-new user interface for all of Bunk’s intriguing stories, connecting the past to the present.

The result

Bunk’s web application goes far beyond mere hyperlinking: It is now a sustainable site that can grow as Bunk keeps building this important and perspective-altering archive.

“We were blown away by how, from the first step in the process, Journey was able to take a lot of disparate information and come up with a vision for how it would actually work in the world,” Tony Field says.

“If it were only that, it’d be a successful partnership, but Journey provided a smooth and streamlined process throughout. We were so appreciative of their honesty in the process and really trusted the team.”

Journey Group’s application for Bunk presents readers with an interface unlike any other. The experience with the site feels completely new to the user: an emotion that is both appropriate and essential to achieving Bunk’s expansive vision for American history.

Discover Bunk for yourself, or read more about a site that doesn’t feel like a history textbook at NiemanLab.

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