Project Overview:
The objective of this project was to support the broadcast of the award-winning documentary “Black Gold” by creating a dedicated website on the Channel 4 platform. The website aimed to engage viewers and build an audience around the documentary by providing additional content related to the global coffee industry.
Context Synopsis:
“Black Gold” is a renowned documentary that explores the social and environmental impact of the global coffee trade. Channel 4 recognized the significance of the documentary and sought to enhance its reach and impact by offering supplementary content through a dedicated website.
Project Scope:
The website, hosted on www.channel4.com, was designed to engage viewers of “Black Gold” and provide them with a deeper understanding of the coffee industry. The website incorporated interactive features that allowed users to input their coffee preferences, map their regular coffee locations, and visualize the journey of their coffee, including how the profits were distributed along the supply chain.
Approach and Technologies:
The website design drew inspiration from the branding elements of “Black Gold” and More 4, Channel 4’s associated platform. The visual style of the documentary and the program’s identity were seamlessly integrated into the website, creating a cohesive user experience. The website utilized Flash for the front-end, integrating Google Maps API to enable user data input and combine it with pre-plotted locations of superstores and coffee shops. Additionally, embedded video elements from the documentary were included to provide a multimedia experience.
To populate the website with coffee-related information, a data scraping process was implemented using .NET. This allowed the site to gather information on coffee chains and supermarkets from existing online sources. The collected data was presented in a user-friendly format, ensuring that the website provided comprehensive information about various coffee-related aspects.
Furthermore, alternative versions of the website were created with a more subdued branding approach, aligning with the More 4 platform. These versions were made available for embedding on partner websites, extending the reach and impact of the project beyond the Channel 4 platform.
Conclusion:
The Black Gold website successfully supported the broadcast of the documentary by engaging viewers and providing them with a rich and interactive experience. By offering additional content and insights into the coffee industry, the website aimed to raise awareness and encourage a deeper understanding of the global coffee trade. Through a combination of design elements, interactive features, and data scraping technologies, the website effectively complemented the documentary, enhancing its impact and fostering a broader dialogue on the subject.
