Jerry Garcia Website Launches! – An Initial Review
By Edward Jennings, on 12 Dec 20, 2012
Take a journey over to the just launched Jerry Garcia Web site . You’ll find it more than a long strange trip its been 
The Jerry Garcia Web site accomplishes two main objectives on behalf of its visitors, 1) Rich content about Jerry Garcia’s life, friends and accomplishments, 2) A creative, engaging shopping experience.
The site is designed by Third Door, Inc. I am surprised to learn how many popular music artist sites have been designed by Third Door’s David Maier. David’s choice of tools as a graphics and Web designer map to the Web software I plan to become more skilled in using in 2013 and beyond. The site was constructed with WordPress for content management, Adobe PhotoShop for images and Adobe Dreamweaver for HTML/HTML5 coding.
The Web site has a product tie-in promotion with the first release from the newly launched Garcia Live series which features a recording from the historic Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey on March 1, 1980.
My first assessment of the jerrygarcia.com Web site is based upon the following viewpoint/criteria.
Fan Viewpoint
Shopping Experience – A+
The Jerry Garcia Store is a standout section. It is tightly coupled with the Garcia official merchandise offered through their exclusive arrangement with MusicToday for ordering/fulfillment. Products were easy to view with the Zoom feature available for closer articulation.
Fan level information – B+
The Timeline section has 97 posts but lacks an evolutionary dated timeline for context and correlation (suggestion…). The content offers in depth reading and visual images that drive the reading experience well.
My favorite image is the black and white photograph of Jerry Garcia playing the pedal steel guitar. The Bio is nicely summarized. I would have liked to have seen a Web link to Wikipedia or another more substantive biography about Jerry.
The News section is very initial with just 4 posts. But it is only Day 1 for the site .
Multimedia content – A+
The Music, Artwork and Video sections meld together in cohesive fashion. The Music section offers a cover art jump point to a second page with music vendors, song listings and just the right level of social network icons for now.
The Artwork area is a gem and it is a good first level representation of an evolving Gallery area. I suggest an Amazon link on this page to the coffee table book, Jerry Garcia: The Collected Artwork for visitors (I just love leafing through that book!)
The Video section knocked me out. The highlight for me was Jerry Garcia’s 70th Birthday. I was unable to watch Move Me Brightly on TRIStudios this past August. I am pumped to see the 17:47 video highlight featured on the Video page.
Technology Viewpoint
Usability – A
The Web site fully leverages responsive design and WordPress content management effortlessly. The images are compelling and never oversized or stretched. Navigation is straight forward and relaxing. It represents a landscape book with a menu as table of contents off to the left side, unobtrusive but accessible.
Design- A+
The page design varies between various postings or single Photoshop images of Jerry that are warm testimonies of him.
Responsive design is available throughout the Web site, which makes this a technology appealing visual, audio, video experience.
I have anticipated the Jerry Garcia Web site for sometime now and I wasn’t disappointed one iota!
Great work team! I look forward to the content evolution from here on out.
Filed under: Acid Rock, Art Rock, Psychedelic, San Francisco Sound Tagged: David Maier, Deadhead, Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia, postaday2012, Third Door Inc., tidal 
