From first art briefing to final product, site design for Founders Online was focused on creating an intuitive search interface so that all users—from serious researcher to casual browser—could easily explore these significant collections. Yet with such rich content, it was also important to provide access within a historically appropriate aesthetic.

The period pomegranate pattern, fashionable in Europe at the turn of the 19th century, became widely popular in America and, as flocked wallpaper, graced many fine homes, including the drawing room at Montpelier, the estate of James Madison. In combination with Old Style and Transitional typefaces, the pattern’s texture and tone suggest the historical dimension of the site while fully supporting its 21st-century technology.

Portrait Sources

• John Adams – Asher B. Durand, c. 1835
• Ben Franklin – Joseph Duplessis, c. 1785
• Alexander Hamilton – John Trumbull, c. 1805
• John Jay – Gilbert Stuart, 1794
• Thomas Jefferson – Rembrandt Peale, c. 1805
• James Madison – John Vanderlyn, c. 1816
• George Washington – “Lansdowne Portrait,” Gilbert Stuart, c. 1796

The Ivy Group of Charlottesville, Virginia, styled and designed Founders Online.