Milwaukee Police Department

Milwaukee Police Department

This was a pleasent surprise. The Milwaukee Police Department recently launched a beautiful and informative website for itself. It was designed by Cramer-Krasselt pro-bono and developed by LISS Interactive. The great design is a big plus, but what strikes me the most about this website is how the content is easily accessible and presented in a clear way. This is a great example on how good design can educate and inform the people. My only issue with the site is the overdone parallax effect.

6 thoughts on “Milwaukee Police Department

  1. The site does look great and is easy to navigate, undeniably. The content is engaging and this site launch is a very brave move for the The Milwaukee Police Department. And their creative agency. But the imagery and tone of the site often seems to reduce what I can only imagine to be extremely serious police work to a kind of gritty glamourisation of guns and the ‘fight against crime’ (particularly the homepage ‘riot van’ image). Further reference: see imagery for umpteen current Xbox/PS3 combat games, or assorted contemporary crime series and action movie advertising. To me, the site feels pretty inappropriate, visually. But this site is definitely one to watch develop – and if nothing else it may kick off some discussion and debate on the tone of the site. I for one would like to see some more real news pushed right to the front with directly supporting imagery and and less stylised imagery. I’m ready to eat my words of course, as I can envisage this site doing wonders for MPD’s recruitment and citizen engagement. Just so long as it’s not attracting all the wrong people for all the wrong reasons.

    1. Hi Danny, you definitely have a valid point. The same concerns were raised by someone else on Twitter. While I agree that the site could benefit from non-violent imagery, I also feel that in reality this is what a majority of their work entails. I think it would do them a disservice to sugar coat what they do because it is disturbing to us. To me, the visual tone makes them out to be heros and I also get a sense of pride. They’re highlighting the most difficult and dangerous aspects of their jobs, because they’re proud of what they do. It’s an honor to them.

  2. Thanks for the reply Antonio. (Admire what you’re doing here by the way!) I guess my point was that the imagery DID seem to glamourise what MDP do – and I DO see a sugar coating in this imagery. I’ve no objection to seeing pictures of guns and riot vans on the homepage – if it is authentic at it’s heart. Crime-related death and violence is always terrible and ugly, but this imagery is anything but ugly. I’m sure there is little glamorous about the Department’s activities.

    But having said all that, I do pick up that strong sense of pride you mention and (even more importantly) a real sense of TRUTH – but the words do that. The creative intelligence that has clearly been applied to the site – both in its design and it’s overall communication concept – is much more meaningful to me, in fact it’s pretty inspirational to see such a well thought out project. This site probably holds some of the most meaningful content around and I think that as long as they report it, this will remain the site’s strength, long after this photography has been replaced. Thanks for the post, I look forward to even more challenging stuff from Aisle one in the future!

  3. I disagree with most. While the site is cutting-edge, I think it has lost its purpose of interacting with the citizens and partners.

    The site is GREAT for officer recruitment, but would scare the beejesus out of the ordinary citizen who just wants to find out some information. This cannot be the Police Department’s main site.

    90% of what police officers do is social interaction. Not riot gear and tank trucks.

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