Last September, I conducted several email interviews to prepare my column on how to survive a website redesign for the December 2006 issue of University Business: “10 Tips to a Successful Website Redesign.â€
Michael L. Dame, Director of Web Communications at Virginia Tech shared these 5 tips at this time.
Know your audience.
Before we began any work on site architecture or design concepts, we devoted several months to research. We interviewed members of our primary audiences – students (current and prospective), faculty, staff, parents (of current and prospective students), and alumni – to find out how they use the university’s website. Our learnings informed later decisions regarding site architecture, navigation and design.
Engage the campus community.
We formed an advisory committee comprised of representatives from every college and major administrative groups, and convened on a regular basis to get their input and feedback on all aspects of the website redesign. Furthermore, about six weeks before launch, we posted a “sneak preview†section on the university’s website to inform and solicit feedback. And a month before launch, we opened up the staging site to all faculty, staff and students for testing and further feedback.
Design from a user’s perspective.
Too often, those who design websites create to satisfy themselves rather than their audience. At Virginia Tech, we took a user-centered approach to the website redesign process, constantly referring back to our research so as to adopt the end-user’s needs and perspective. At each design milestone, we conducted user testing to make sure we were on the right track. The result is a much more usable website.
Communicate constantly.
I posted project updates on a weekly basis to campus listservs for webmasters and web communicators. Myself and others on the project team also spoke with several campus leaders and groups to discuss the redesign initiative and educate the campus community about our Web strategies and project objectives.
Have a detailed launch-day plan.
Be very specific when defining launch-day roles. Expect the unexpected. Whatever time estimate you make for the launch process, double it! And keep plenty of Red Bull on hand. You’ll need those wings in the 16th hour.
