Voice of Industry Website
A website to promote and disseminate the writings of XIXth century Lowell, Massachussets factory workers in the newspaper "Voice of Industry", 1840's.
The voice of Industry was a newspaper published by textile factory workers in the X!Xth Century and advocated many of the liberal ideals we still strive to make part of our lives. These workers—mostly women—wrote eloquently about abolitionism, shorter work days, equal distribution of earnings, and other issues. Their ideas remain as relevant today as they did 150 years ago.
Rajeev Ruparell first became interested in the writings of these workers after hearing a lecture by Noam Chomsky, and transcribed the newspaper articles by hand from the microfiche archives kept by Lowell Museums (in Massachussetts). He hired me to do a website that would post all the content online for public domain use. A graphic nod to the aesthetic of the age was a requirement, and this is the result. The first image is the website as it exists today. The next six are sketches the normal and hover states when we began the project. The last image is of the original file used to make the main navigation buttons, They are all interactive, based on original engravings from the era, with some textures applied in Photoshop.
I feel honoured to be part of the effort to bring these voices to life.
