Design in Context: A Web Design Blog by Greg Kihlstrom

Choosing the Right Web Content Management System

Very few commercial Web sites do not have a Content Management System (CMS) these days.  The tools to create an easy way to add and update content for your site are easy enough to use and implement that even small businesses can easily put together a Web site using WordPress, Drupal or Joomla with or without the help of a Web Design and Development firm.  These 'stock' installations of these popular Open Source Content Management Systems offer a lot of great features that the average company will be able to use, and skinning them so that they look like a company's unique identity can be quite simple to do if you are just wanting to change basic colors and logos.

Larger Web sites, however, can be much more complex to set up, and often have unique needs that the basic installation of one of these free, Open Source systems do not have 'out of the box.' For instance, Drupal might have a user registration module, but the entire workflow and registration process for your organization might have drastically different needs.  The question is: do you compromise what you want, or get your Content Management System to work the way you want it to?  I will always recommend the latter.  There are so many options out there that you should never have to compromise your vision.

There are three ways to approach the challenge of truly unique needs and requirements:

1. Modify an Open Source Content Management System to suit your needs.
Again, this is something that I've done countless times and it definitely possible.  If you are drastically modifying the core of the CMS, I would strongly recommend finding a company that has a lot of experience with the Content Management System you are using.  You want to make sure that it will be relatively painless to upgrade the core system without making too many modifications.  A less experienced programmer might unknowingly make a change to the Content Management System's underlying functionality that will prove problematic later on.

2. Find a Content Management System that has the functionality you are looking for, or something very close to it.
This might involve moving towards a licencsed, proprietary Content Management System.  There is certainly nothing wrong with this option, and many larger organizations have found that the Open Source CMS options out there are good, but not tailored towards the larger, enterprise mindset and need for scalability.  There are plenty of great licensed CMS platforms out there, ranging anywhere from $5,000/year to upwards of $100,000/year and, like anything else, the more you pay, the more flexibility, expandability and technical support you will get. You will be able to get the system customized to your liking as well by working with either the CMS company itself or a preferred vendor. Obviously, companies and organizations with little to no annual licensing budgets will quickly find that what they are looking for is out of reach, and might go back to looking at the Open Source options.

3. Create your own Content Management System
Some times, there are just such specific work flow and functional needs for your Web site or Web-based application that it does not make sense to use either a standard Open Source CMS or another proprietary one. For a site that interfaces with other very unique systems, has unique user/member needs, or has only one aspect that needs to be controlled by a WYSIWYG editor, some times it makes sense to just develop a custom Content Management System that handles these parts of your Web site. The advantages of a customized CMS is that it does EXACTLY what you want it to, the way you want it to.  The drawback, of course, is that if you want to change Web Development vendors, you will want to make sure that your new vendor can work with your system.  The benefit of an Open Source system is that there is a large community of developers familiar with the system, and the benefit of a proprietary system is that most of the time there is a highly qualified preferred vendor network that can help you if you need to change Web Development providers.

Choosing a Web Content Management System is not an easy task, but the most important thing to keep in mind is that your CMS should not determine what your Web site can do.  Make sure you find the one that will let you and your organization accomplish its goals.

Was Your Web Design and Development Project Successful?

After completing a large Website Design and Development project, some times it's just nice to call the project complete.  After all, several months of living and breathing Web messaging, images, colors, functionality, work flow, and so much more can leave you relieved that your project is live, looks great and works like you intended.

It is very important, however, to take a look back and see how successful the project really was.  Each project will have a different measure of success, and some times the goals might shift slightly along the way, but here's some things to help you determine if your Web site Design and Development project accomplished what it needed to.

1. Review the original projects requirements

Did the original project requirements get fulfilled?  For instance, if a requirement of your Web site project was that you allow for paid event registration, does your new Web site have that?

Secondly, was the paid event registration implemented in the manner that you had originally imagined?

Finally, does the way that the functionality was created for your new Web site work well with the marketing and business processes your organization has in place? 

If you answered "yes" to all three of these questions, that's great -- you and your Web Design and Development firm were able to keep things in scope and created a piece of functionality that is exactly what you needed.

If you answered "no" to any or all of these, there are two possibilities:  either your objectives might have shifted during the process or your project was not successful in the area of having the basic requirements fulfilled. 

The first case (objectives shifting) is nothing to be worried too about. Many times some objectives or specifics can change once you are in the midst of a project.  It is important to be mindful of "scope creep" or asking for functionality above and beyond what was originally agreed to, because this could affect both the time line and the overall cost of your project, but you need to make sure that the product you end up with is what your organization really needs.  Much of this can be determined by going through a proper Request for Proposal (RFP) writing stage, and by working with your contracted Web site Design and Development firm to fully discover any additions or changes from your written RFP.

If you answered "no" and your needs and requirements did not change, it is a problem.  Why does your Web site not have this functionality you need?  Was there a miscommunication between you and the contracted firm?  Were the requirements not clearly documented?  Were you not able to review the finished Web site before a 'final draft' of the product was available to view?  Just as importantly, what is being done to fix this problem? 

2. Ask a Sampling of Customers and Colleagues

Another way to gauge your Web Design and Development project's success is to ask the opinions of a select group of people familiar with you and your business objectives.  Given that these people have an understanding of your target market and what you do, they can give you some advice about what was done right and what could be improved.

It's not a bad idea to get some of these same people involved much earlier in the process.  A Beta testing group is a great way to make some final text and graphic tweaks to your pages.  Be careful not to let people's individual tastes in color, spacing, fonts and other things compromise your vision, though.  Pay attention to the larger idea behind their feedback.  Instead of heeding the advice of someone who says "I hate that color orange that you used for your registration buttons," find out if the registration button itself was easy for them to find.  Even if they don't like the color, the important point is that they are able to get through the registration process, not if the buttons are shaded in their favorite colors.

3. Check Your Analytics

Before you launch your new Web site, make sure you have statistics on how people were interacting with your old site.  This is crucial to determine if you have improved processes or not.  Some times the purpose of a project is really just to modernize the look and feel, and that is perfectly fine.  If, however, the purpose was to drive more sales conversions, acquire more Email addresses, or something like that, you need to have the historical data to make an educated assessment of whether or not your changes worked.

Google Analytics, is cheap (it's actually free) and easy to use.  It's an easy yway to get instant feedback on how many people are getting to your site, where they are going, and in many cases, what they are doing on your site.

4. Take A Survey

Some times the friends and colleagues who know about you and your organization might not be able to take that additional step backwards and give you the opinions that someone less familiar with you can.  If it is appropriate, find a way to survey some fresh eyes and see what they think.  See if they were able to get the basic idea of what you are selling from only spending a few minutes on your Web site.  See if they were able to easily contact you using the navigation on the site.  

5. Do a Personal Review

What about your Web site would you change after going through this process?  Chances are, it's not something that you would have thought about before the entire process started. Don't be too hard on yourself for overlooking something that you could only see after getting your Web presence to this new point, but instead be realistic.  Is this a positive step forward for you and your organization?  Is this what was agreed upon from the beginning?  Are your customers responding better to the new design and functionality?  Are you getting good feedback from the colleagues who regularly check your site?  If so, congratulations!

These 5 things should help you determine if your Web site Design and Development Project was successful.  Make some notes about each aspect and see what could be changed easily, and take a little time to see if some of the things on your list might not be necessary after all.  When you spend several months living and breathing a project like this, it's easy to get stuck in the minute details, but given a little perspective and time you might find that your original plan had a lot more wisdom in it.  Take a little time to let the newly launched project take life and review things again in 1-2 months.  You might have some even better ideas then, and you might also realize that a lot of what you have is perfect as is.

Web Design and Development the Right Way

There is a lot of information about how a Web Design and Development company will handle a project once it is awarded, but I thought it would be a good idea to write a brief overview of the entire process from an organizational perspective.

1. Identify your Goals

While every organization handles this differently, it is important to identify your Marketing, Content and Technical Requirements for any new Web Design and Development project. This will most likely involve getting a number of people from your organization together in a room for several internal discovery meetings and putting together a list of needs and requirements.  They might include your overall branding and messaging goals, ideas from competitors or even unrelated companies that you would like to incorporate, and the technical specifications of your infrastructure.

2. Find a Qualified Web Design and Development Firm

Again, this is handled differently depending on your current situation.  Many organizations issue a Web Design and Development Request for Proposal (RFP), or if they have a short list of vendors they would like to work with, they send a request to those firms and have phones calls and meetings about their requirements.  Whether or not you issue a formal, public Request for Proposal, it is a good idea to write down your requirements and goals in a clear format that any vendor can understand.

You will most likely get a slew of proposals with varying solutions and budget ranges.  If you don't have an inhouse 'expert' on all things technical, you might consider bringing in a consultant to help you make a decision.  Many times, however, bringing the top 3-4 companies in for interviews will allow you to quickly discover who you have the best chemistry with and who is the most passionate about doing the work you need them to do.

3. Discovery with the Web Development Firm

Just like you did a Discovery process within your organization, it is now time to give the Web Design firm all the information they need to do their jobs.  Even though your Request for Proposal was detailed, make sure you leave no stone unturned.  There are a million ways to interpret some aspects and the sooner you iron out the details the smoother things will go in the Development phase of the project.

4. Design and Content Development

After both parties feel they have all the information they need to proceed with the project, the firm will start both the Graphic and Technical Design of the Web site.  Many times you will work with them on developing content for the site as well, but some times the messaging and  content writing is done inhouse.  

For the Interface and Graphic Design, expect to see a series of initial 'comps' or concepts for the home page and perhaps a few other pages.  This will help you narrow down the overall look and feel of the finished product and you will go through a series of revisions to get things perfect.

For the Technical aspect of the Web site and System, expect to see a specifications document that outlines any functional workflow or database mapping that needs to occur.  If you have internal systems or third-party applications that need to tie into the new Web site, expect to see a more detailed explanation of how those systems will fit together.

There are times when you need to do some initial usability testing with these designs.  Even though the Web site is not functioning or even built at this point, in order to get some feedback on the approach you are about to build, a lot of organizations will do some basic testing with simple screenshots.  This can be very helpful if you are building a complex application that has many possible solutions.

You should expect to sign off on all of these items before you proceed to the next phase of the process.

5. Development of the Web site

After the Design and Content Development is complete, the Web Design and Development company has all that they need to create and build the Web site.  You should expect regular updates on their progress and depending on the length and complexity of the system, there will be a series of test releases, usually named "alpha" and "beta" or something like that.  These releases are not finished products but give you, the client an opportunity to see the work in progress.  It's also an invaluable tool to let you see that everything is on track and according to your original requirements.

6. Testing (Usability and Quality Assurance)

After the "beta"  release of the site, it should be fully-functioning but not yet publicly available.  At this time you might do some usability testing to get some final feedback, though the major changes and development work is behind you at this point.  You are looking for the last few minor issues and graphic or content tweaks at this point.

7. Final Revisions

The final changes are made after testing is complete and the Web site files are readied for a public launch.  Chances are the other marketing initiatives  you've scheduled to coincide with your new Web site launch are ready to go at this point.  All you need to do is say the word "go" and this long yet rewarding process will be complete.

8. Launch

With everything prepared, your Web Design and Development firm, working in conjunction with your IT or Web infrastructure team will move the correct files, databases, third party applications, and everything else that is necessary to publicly launch your Web site to the correct place and your new Web site is now publicly available.  Congratulations!  Your hard work has paid off.

9. Follow up

This seems pretty straightforward, but a follow up or post-game meeting with your vendor is a necessary step in this process.  Figure out what went well during this process and what could be improved for next time.  Chances are you won't do a major release again for another few years, but there will most likely be minor releases and the more you can work together to share information and learn about what works well and what doesn't the better this process will go in the future.

I hope this helps you, and best of luck with your next project.  

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Greg Kihlstrom is Creative Director at Carousel30, a Washington DC Web Design and Development firm.  

Writing a Request For Proposal for Web site Design & Development

A company that is looking to get bids from several qualified vendors for a Web site design or development project will typically write a Request for Proposal (RFP) and either post it online or send it directly to potential vendors it has identified.

As with any complex project, a Web site design project requires clear communication between the client and web developer in order for the client to receive accurate bids. The RFP serves as a baseline of project requirements on which competing vendors may price their services.

We have outlined a few items below that should typically be in a Website Design and Development Request for Proposal, though some times more information is necessary.

Writing your Request for Proposal

The Request for Proposal (RFP) process allows potential vendors to get an idea of your goals, existing challenges and possible limitations without lengthy phone discussions or in-person meetings. It allows you to succinctly describe exactly what you are looking for and what a potential vendor should expect in the project.

An ideal RFP would clearly specify all the requirements pertaining to your website. It would allow the developer to present you with a proposal based your particular needs and, needless to say, the more details your RFP contains, the more accurate a proposal the developer is able to present.

Components of a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a Web site Design and Development Project:

Project Background Information

• Brief overview of your organization, including some history and your primary business objectives.
• Description of the project you would like to receive the proposal for.
• If your budget requirements are strict, it might help to include a 'Ballpark' Budget - which developers can use to scope and scale your solution and save you time.
• Anticipated time frame — include any dates that you need the project to meet. Are there crucial meetings and cut-off dates that the developer should be aware of? If you are not sure what the time frame should be, it's okay to see what the proposals you receive recommend and renegotiate. It's also good to anticipate and state how flexible you are with the project's completion date.

Marketing Requirements and Data

• Audience demographics — who will be the main users of your site? Are there several different audiences that need to be addressed?
• User comfort level with technology — how technically savvy is your audience? Will they know how to deal with plug-ins, for example?
• Will users have high-speed connections, or will many be on modems?
• Audience base — how large do you expect your user base to be?

Design and Corporate Branding Requirements

• Do you have corporate identity guidelines that must be followed, including fonts and colors and graphic treatments?
• What look and feel to you envision for the Web site? Include some adjectives to describe what your site should communicate.
• Provide examples of Web sites that relate to the RFP either because they have a similar feel to the one your are looking for, or even examples of what you do NOT want.
• Will there be any animated elements (i.e. Flash animations)? How many? How are they going to be used?

Technical and Infrastructure Requirements

• ISP/hosting considerations. Do you currently have a Web host or are you looking for a new one?
• Browser/platform considerations. Generally speaking, a Web site for consumers should work similarly across all modern browsers and Operating Systems.
• Development platform requirements. Do you require an Open Source solution, are you open to a proprietary solution that is more tailered to your exact needs, etc.
• Active page delivery systems (e.g. ASP.NET, PHP, Java)
• Are there third party applications you'd like to incorporate?

Functionality/programming Requirements

• Will there be forms on the site? If so, how many? How should they be handled? (e.g. e-mailed to recipients, stored in a database, etc.)
• Will the site require tools to manage content/information (e.g. ability for staff to add content such as press releases or quarterly reports)?
• Will there be any e-commerce on the site? If so, who will be entering data on products offered? How will transactions be managed?
• Are there any other interactive features the site should have? What are they, and how do you envision them to work?

Search Engine Optimization

• Describe any currently defined search engine friendly production requirements and expectations
• Indicate if you are seeking SEO/SEM consultation services

Ongoing Site Maintenance Plans

• How often will the site be updated? Are you looking for a retainer situation, or 'on-demand' hourly work?
• Will you be self-maintaining or will you be outsourcing maintenance services?

Project Management

• Who will be the main point of contact on your staff? Keep in mind that in most cases it is easiest to have a single point of contact at both your organization and the company designing and developing your Web site.
• How will the tasks be divided between you and the developer in order to complete the project?
• Are there any third parties (subcontractors, etc.) that will also be involved in the project?

RFP Response Deadline and Contact Information

• When is the response to the RFP due?
• To whom should the response be sent?
• Do you prefer E-mail or hard copies, and if so, how many hard copies?
• Is there a specific solicitation number that needs to be referenced in the Proposal Document?
• What is the RFP review process? How long do you anticipate to take to make your decision before the project can begin?

Some Additional Thoughts Before You Begin:

• For all items listed above, be sure to clearly indicate if you must have any item(s) bid as an optional aspect of the project. Keep in mind possible dependencies between project aspect/components that may make this impractical.
• Before writing your Request For Proposal, determine your budget for the project and, beyond that, your priorities for selecting a Developer who can meet your budgetary requirements.

Writing an RFP is a good exercise for anyone thinking about a site design or redesign as it takes thoughtful planning to specify and construct a website. A well thought out, quality RFP is essential to a successful endeavor because it helps you to focus on your goals and exactly how to achieve them.

To learn more about Carousel30's services please take a look around our site or contact us for more information.

On Writing a Good Web Design and Development RFP...

There are plenty of articles about how to write a good Web Design and Development RFP - we even have one on my company's Web site.  But despite this, we still get some Request for Proposals that are fairly incomplete, and end up requiring a lot of explanation. But here's a few quick tips that really help reduce the confusion and help you get a much more accurate proposal:

• If you THINK it might be helpful, please include it.  This could be that your Web server is  located at the North Pole and only has FTP access every 2nd week on Wednesday at 10PM, or it could be something a lot more mundane.  Either way... it can seriously help a vendor prepare their bid.
• Check your terminology. If you have a consultant (or even a friend) that is more knowledgeable about language and terminology, consult them to make sure you are stating things correctly.  Some times, in trying to SOUND too technical, you might end up saying the wrong thing, and just causing confusion.
• Admit what you DON'T know. If you need strategic assistance, or even help determining what it is that you need, it's okay.  Maybe you need to include a 'Phase 1' that is a strategic planning phase.  Even if there is a very small budget for this, it might save tens of thousands of dollars (if not more) down the road to have a real strategic plan in place.
• Don't be afraid to ask follow-up questions. Every vendor has their own way of responding to an RFP, but that doesn't have to be your problem.  If you get such a wide variety of responses that it's like comparing apples to oranges, figure out a way to level the playing field by asking follow up questions.

And like I said, there's plenty more articles out there... good luck.

Web Design is relative: How to rate a Website's Effectiveness

I was recently asked the following question by a potential client:

"There are so many Websites, and some are better than others.  What makes one site better than another?  What are the characteristics of an outstanding website?"

That's a pretty broad question.  How does one judge if a Website advertising a new luxury car is better than an informational portal about health issues?

The answer is... you don't.  I believe the ways to judge ANY Web site's effectiveness is the following:

a) Context
Context refers to how a Web site is intended to perform based on the type of information it was intended to present.  An online advertising site should be treated much different than an informational portal, for instance.  I put this first, because this is really where you start - putting apples with apples.

b) Effectiveness
Effectiveness refers to how users are able to get to content that they need to get to and how many clicks they need to get there.  This can be measured by straight up sales, Web analytics, a reduction in 'help desk' phone calls/emails or even the viral impact of word of mouth.

c) Aesthetic appeal
While it is not the most important element of a Website (there are plenty of successful, boring sites out there), aesthetics is certainly an essential part of any interactive experience. The trick is to make the look, feel and layout of a site fit the context of the information, while offering site visitors something a little unexpected that they can't find anywhere else.

d) Technology used for good
Technology can also create an outstanding user experience, and just as easily make it unuseable.  Use it where it helps someone visualize something better or get access to information quicker or more naturally.

Now, get back to work.  There are a lot of Websites that need help still...

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Greg Kihlstrom is the Creative Director at Carousel30, a Washington DC Web Design and Development firm

The "Design by Committee" Syndrome

It's dreaded by just about any Web Designer out there.  It might start off as a subtle "I showed it to my colleague and they didn't like that color blue" or "my spouse took a look and doesn't like dropdown menus" or... well, you know how it goes. 

Sooner or later, everyone and their mother is giving their opinions on what makes a good Website.  Where does it end?  This is what we call "Design by Committee."  Its more obvious form is when a company allows too many different people to have input and the overall design becomes 'watered down.'

While it is very important that key objectives of a Website redesign project are decided and agreed upon  by all necessary powers that be at the very start of the initiative, there is a definite time where an expert (that's us, Web Designers) needs to be able to distill these core objectives and turn them in to an engaging, dynamic experience.  Having too many chefs in the kitchen at every point in the design process is not going to improve the finished product.

Make sure that there are points where usability testing and feedback is welcomed.  This is a crucial step in the process, but doing it at the right time is also just as important.   The overall vision of the Web site  will be more memorable and dynamic if it comes from a small team.  Specific placement of a few key elements is something that might need to change after some usability testing.

I ran across this article on boagworld.com that  suggests some ways to combat "Design by Committee" syndrome.  I won't recreate his post here, but will just say that having a good process beforehand is a great way to keep things from getting out of hand.

Good luck, and stay strong.

The State of Web Design Awards

I think that Web Design Awards have sometimes gotten a bad rap.  Back in the day, those fancy Flash sites that looked pretty but offered nothing in the way of real information or usability seemed to be winning them all, and so many complained that the REAL Web sites that were well-designed on a functional level were losing out simply because they didn't have fancy Flash transitions.  But on an informational and functional level, those 'boring' sites were really well-designed.

They were right.  But really, the trends in Web/Interactive Awards have really been following the overall trends in the Web in general.  We're seeing a lot more of a marriage of aesthetics and usability these days, and I can only hope that this continues.  I'm pretty sure it will.  Now that we have more advanced technologies to make real-time interactions with servers, showing/hiding relevant information and so much more, us designers are able to take advantage of information and technical functionality to provide a well-designed site.

And hopefully win some more awards.  I want to add a new shelf to my trophy case this year.

It might be time for a Content Management System...

Marketing Departments of the World: If you have a full-time Web person at your company, you might not think you need a way to update the pages on your organization's Web site yourself.  But some times it's just nice to have the power to do things yourself.

Any marketing department should have the ability to make changes and enhancements to the wording on their site's pages.  And how many times have you found yourself waiting for your IT person to make a change to a page, only to find that by the time it got done, it wasn't done exactly how you wanted.

Just imagine:

• You can make changes to the META and Title tags (enhancing your Search Engine Optimization)
• You can quickly fix that spelling or grammatical error (even though you could've sworn your team went over those things 10 times already)
• You can add a page for a new product in about 10 minutes
• You might create a landing page to do a little lo-fi A-B testing with your Google AdWords advertising

There's plenty more, of course, but it's amazing what you can do when you are able to separate the content from the functionality on your company's Web site.

Easy way to get validating HTML and Graphics

Most Web Designers are forced, to some degree, to be both creative and technical - having to be creative with how the interface will look and what supporting graphics to use, etc.  At the same time, they need to make sure they WORK - there are some things that, no matter how cool they would be, are just not practical.  And add on top of that the fact that many times you have to cut your designs up into validating XHTML/CSS/Graphics, etc... some times it's just not practical to do it all.

My company just created a Web site for these guys - WebChopShop - and we've used them a few times to turn our Web Designs into HTML and Graphics.  Especially on a quick turnaround, some times you just need some help with that end of things.