WWW.THEONION.COM
Jeff Piazza, a principal at Behavior Design, is an admirer of The Onion. “Who isn’t?” he asks. “This was a dream project to work on.” For such brazen satire, the only appropriate aesthetic had to be that of true publication design. “We felt that delivering fake news in a real package elevated the irony of the stories,” Piazza says. “We worked to provide a flexible design system to meet their needs in delivering the content just as we do with other information-rich design projects.”

For Behavior Design principal, Ralph Lucci, creating content decks was never so much fun. “Establishing similarities and diÙerences between The Onion site proper and the A.V. Club became the most enjoyable challenge,” he says. “Creating sibling frameworks for both at once to work side by side helped strengthen their individual solutions.” This was a close collaboration with The Onion team, who plotted over the ‘plausibility’ of the final execution. “With the exception of boutique kindred spirits, we can’t think of another site of its kind,” Lucci says. “Since we kept the approach deadpan, its competitive landscape may consist only of the major news providers. Its vast vault of comedic content then sets it apart from the others.”
Dana Rouse

Behavior Design
CREATIVE DIRECOTR: Khoi Vinh
VISUAL DESIGNER: John Weir
INFORMATION ARCHITECT: Mischa Williams
DESIGN TECHNOLOGIST: Adam Michela
PROJECT MANAGER: Angela Rutherford
CLIENT: The Onion
CONTACT: www.behaviordesign.com