Project Restart, was a WYSIWG content management tool for the AOL Welcome screen. It allowed the editors to preview the content before publishing. Edit and control each element of the screen.

The use of a publishing timeline also allowed editors to program content more efficiently. The AOL Welcome screen was published to four different types of subscribers. It also needed to be able to change its layout to allow different sizes of adverts. Previously when the Welcome screen Wide Skyscraper ad (160×600) had reached its click through limit, the ad system would have to run AOL  skyscraper ads. Now the page could reflow to fit a IAB Medium Rectangle (300 x 250). This was a massive boost to revenue, the VP Products, Content, Online User Experience, David Gilbey described it as his million pound homepage.

The main dashboard was designed to give a ‘what you see is what you get’ view of the Welcome screen. The content to each spot could be programmed months in advance. It also could be changed every hour. Each spot could also be linked to  channel content. So the editor in the sports channel could have a summary of their article on the Welcome screen automatically. All of this  created a new engaging Welcome screen for the UK mass digital audience.

Below are some examples of the various interface designs I created. Firstly the Dashboard view. The Welcome screen editors could get a sense of the work that had to do to produce a successful Welcome screen.

This shows the interface for scheduling content.

Each module itself could also be edited, before being published into a spot.