Paola worked with the Japan Information & Cultural Centre (JICC) to design and build the first web site of the Embassy of Japan in 1996.

The Embassy already had a clear idea of what they wanted to put on their web site. Paola's job was to refine the structure, work with designers on the site's visual design and then to construct the site using copy prepared by the Embassy.

The web site contained visa information, a diary of Japan-related events, information on about living and working in Japan, and information about JICC.

Paola invited a developer familiar with Japanese design to meet with the graphic designer to discuss themes and imagery that could be used on the web site. These were written up for the Embassy to choose from.

The chosen design was of images from Japanese culture and life in an animé-style. The home page included a panel of six truncated section buttons, each with a main colour theme. The section pages then included the image in its entirety.

The site, which we maintained, attracted a lot of visitors and feedback. After a year, the Embassy decided to take over the site maintenance.

Paola encouraged them to get training in HTML and ftp; she spent a training day with them to explain how the site was set up for uploading updates.