The Bazaar #87: Scholarly Adventures "Redesign & Refresh"

GENERAL

Sometimes appearances play a larger part than most people would consider. That certainly plays out in terms of various aspects of our lives, whether conscious or not. One of those, of course, happens to be the websites we choose to spend our time with, and how we consume the data they present. Some websites make this easier than others, be it formatting, imagery, advertising, paywalls and the like. Something I’ve endeavoured to provide here with Scholarly Adventures is a clean, well-researched, positive and meaningful series of blog posts and articles for you, dear readers. So, I thought the visuals presented by the site needed some sprucing up; ergo, a Redesign & Refresh.

DISCUSSION

Leveraging Youtube Video. For those that were around and remember the Youtube video I did as a video teaser for the blog. It was announced back in The Bazaar #66 – Blog Teaser Trailer. It was a fun little project, but the nascence of the idea for this refresh and rebranding for the website and blog. One thing I can say with some certainty, I won't be delving into Youtube videos without a project partner that is capable of handling the back-end editing and processing of video files - definitively not my forte.

Teaser Trailer: Scholarly Adventures - A Rifts Blog

Rebranding. Originally this site was meant to exclusively deal with the Rifts RPG and general gaming commentary, with the odd short-story thrown in for good measure. Since its inception, Scholarly Adventures has undergone some transitioning to a wider lens, taking in more than just the Rifts RPG. It’s an important shift, most notably demonstrated in the complete restructure of the landing page. It also more subtly shows up in the branding iconography, specifically the “disc logo” that went from “A Palladium Rifts RPG Blog” to “A Palladium Books RPG Blog.”

Landing Page. One of those things I took for granted was the main splash page, otherwise known as a Landing Page. This is the primary website and baseline entry point for most anyone visiting Scholarly Adventures. It’s gone though a few iterations and minor tweaks over the years, but I found myself very much reconsidering the image I wanted to portray. I started this project and didn't bother to fuss about with the Wix Editor suite, just put something functional up and went with it. Now, I wanted something more professional, cleaner. I also wanted to demonstrate the spirit of the Palladium Megaverse, and for now, the Rifts RPG in particular.

Click HOME (take you to the landing page)

Computer/Tablet or Cellphones. Something I am immensely grateful for with the Wix Editor suite is the ability to format the site based on either of these two platforms. Both provide different experiences, and with them limitations. Whereas the previous versions of the site was clearly geared towards the computer or tablet user, I spent a significant amount of time in this formatting rest to go over the Cellphone formatting section to ensure it maximizes accessibility and the dynamic I wanted to present. Hopefully those of you browsing on a cellphone can appreciate some of the effort.

Wait, Rebranding? Something I realized a while back was that the blog has already flexed past the boundaries of "just a Rifts blog." I mean, sure, one could argue all the Palladium Books lines are “Rifts-adjacent” and you would be mostly correct. I’ve already floated into Chaos Earth and Phaseworld, both of which are Rifts but also not, and Legacy Reviews look at Palladium Books titles that are very much not Rifts RPG books and largely nostalgic, out of print/no longer licensed. Does this mean I’ll be branching into the other games, like Beyond the Supernatural, Heroes Unlimited and Palladium Fantasy? Simply put, a resounding yes, with more ideas to follow. So, in addition to finishing the ROBOTECH Legacy Review journey, I have the TMNT Redux reviews awaiting media release. Eventually we’ll see more articles for the following:

• Resources Reviews. More spotlights on external sources great for adventure ideas

• Bestiary Field Notes. More deep dives on monsters/antagonists, with ideas on how to exploit them for your adventures

• Scholar’s Review. “Other PB Games”

• Legacy Review. Macross II and Mechanoids

Article Editing Process. The only thing that remains is a scrub through all 200+ articles to ensure "staffing issues" are consistent across the entirety of the site. There are a few bizarre titles that need tweaking, and the Logo Disc at the summation of each article will be updated to the new version, as well as some older reviews that could do with a second glance and refresh for spacing and the like. A process for another day.

CONCLUSION

So there we have it, a bit of a rebranding, a new look and feel, but the same substance and perspective on the Palladium Books games – still with a heavy Rifts bent, but expanding. Are we at 100%? Well, no. A few tweaks remain. I noticed a few things to adjust, particularly for the cellphone experience. That said, it is largely where I think it will remain for the foreseeable future. This blog has been humming along since March 2020, so going this long without a major refresh seemed a little much.

Noticing that this adventure has gone on, rather successfully in my humble opinion, is a testament to the community engagement, the product we so enjoy discussing, the various discussions with Kevin and Sean, and the immersive experience these games provide. For anyone asking, it’s been a fun five years, and I see no foreseeable reasons to stop any time soon.

So, I invite anyone willing to take a few minutes to give it a look-see and tell me what you think. Does it work for you? Is it an improvement?

Cheers!

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