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09.01.04
Whirlwind Web site gets facelift
After three years,
it’s finally happening! And it’s more like a total makeover.
Welcome to the new Whirlwind web site. We’re still putting up new
content, but Whirlwind has finally joined the 21st Century in web design,
thanks in large part to the help of, ilo, the design partnership of Karen
Lee and Scott Andreae.
Whirlwind’s first web site was a joint effort by self-taught web
site builders Mirel Dobrila and Marc Krizack. Dobrila, a wheelchair rider
and computer programmer at the United Nations in New York City, and Krizack,
currently Whirlwind’s director of operations, teamed up in 1999
to put together an eclectic and whimsical web site that captured Whirlwind’s
lighthearted style, but that lacked the consistency, artistry, and clear
navigation that web denizens demand.
In 2002, San Francisco State University decided to no longer maintain
the server hosting the Whirlwind site, although they left the server plugged
into the Internet. For two years Whirlwind could not FTP to update the
site. Whirlwind set up an alternate site, but Internet search engines
were still referencing the original site. The old server was finally unplugged
from the Internet in late August 2004. The new site is designed for ease
of navigation and will carry a great deal of useful content for those
interested in wheelchair design for people with disabilities in developing
countries.
Scott Andreae and Karen Lee started, ilo, a small art and design studio
in 1996. Since then ilo has created everything from web sites and print
material to sculptures and interior spaces. ilo’s work was selected
for the 2004 Print Design Annual, and can be found in the new
design book, Rethink, Redesign, Reconstruct by Mark Wasserman.
In 2000, ilo was short listed for UNESCO’s young designers award
with their work becoming part of the UNESCO’s permanent collection.
> www.ilodesign.com
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