Start From Scratch

The last thing you ever want to do is assume too much prior knowledge on the side of your audience. When beginning the presentation, take time to discuss the site as if you were speaking to a completely new user. This gives the audience a chance to either learn something they may have been previously unaware of or the chance to compare their thoughts and feelings about the site to those of their newly appointed web designer. In the end you may find that starting with a solid backstory can improve overall understanding among all parties involved.

Strengths And Weaknesses

It is very important to understand that while you may be there to redesign a site currently in dire disrepair, if presented as a put down, it will likely be received as a put down. And that’s never good for job security. Begin by identifying key strengths. In most cases there are bound to be strong attributes. If the site hadn’t ever experienced success originally than there would likely be no need for a redesign so try to point out as much as you can that the previous site has done correctly. You can then transition into the weaknesses. When starting to discuss weaknesses, take your audience into consideration. Many of the existing site’s features were likely either conceptualized, designed, or developed by the very people to whom you are speaking so use tact in explaining why something is considered a weakness.

The Fix

It is highly probable that in today’s fast paced business environment, many audience members are simply interested in the “How.” As in “I don’t really care what is right or what is wrong, we’ve hired you to fix it, so what is your plan?” That is why the most crucial point for any redesign presentation is the explanation of “The Fix.” That is, a short and sweet discussion of how you plan to improve their site. Many find it useful to pull from the list of weaknesses and to explain why the redesign will not suffer these same issues. Others see it’s yet another part of the interview process and feel compelled to prove themselves through a thurough explanation of why his or her ideas are in the best interest of the company. Whichever approach you take it is important not to force any design or concept on the group. The company has given you an oppurtunity to be brutally honest, and at some point you will owe that company the same favor.

The Demo

One of the final steps in effectively presenting a redesign is to provide and intriguing demo. Now a demo can be tricky to develop, this is the first time you will be showing off your design so for fear of complete push-back you wont be looking to get too heavy into coding the entire site. Start with a few simple pages that give the audience a good idea of how both the site and design will flow together. And remember to take your time when developing the demo, the audience will expect a working version, the last thing you want is a broken link popping up out of nowhere. My final advice when presenting a demo of your redesign is to have fun and be confident about it, after all in most cases nearly everything you’ve presented will have been your own idea. You literally own the product, why not figuratively own the demo [if you catch my drift].

To Sum It Up

To bring it all to a close, my final thoughts are simple. The web is an ever changing, incredible place, and as web designers and developers we are given the unique opportunity to participate in the Web 2.0 revolution. The next time you are given a redesign project, keep these tips in mind when at first presenting it, and you could be on your way to success.

In fact, I have an idea. Its an idea that I think is going to finally give some purpose to this site, an idea that I hope others around the web find interesting, and an idea that I hope can jump start the existence of an overall web personality that I so long for.

The idea will play off another favorite blog of mine, Broke Grad Student. The Broke Grad Student blog considers a task that many of us either have, currently are, or eventually will, experience in our lifetime, the fun and excitement of paying back college debt. The writer of the blog highlights on a fairly regular basis things about his life that pertain to money. Interesting things that occur, or better yet intelligent things that he either reads or comes up with on his own. I’ve chosen to run with the idea and begin a sort of blogging miniseries in which I discuss, highlight, and vent about the newest project in my life. The Whirlpool Corporation service website redesign project.

Over the next coming months the entries with grow more frequent, the content more relevant (hopefully), and the overall iVaughn.com experience will forever change humanity (okay so that might be a stretch but in all honesty I have a feeling this could be good). So keep an eye out for future content as I have already experienced plenty of items to write about, and yet its only just begun!

MailChimp Introduction Video

The service I will be using was developed by a very clever company called MailChimp. MailChimp.com has developed a web based email marketing tool with a wide range of appropriate pricing options, including a free option for those like myself who are just starting out and manage a relatively small mailing  list. The service includes a wide variety of other outstanding features as well including a great selection of design templates and some of the most intuitive reporting tools in the industry. If you’ve ever worked with another email marketing tool before and have found it counterintuitive and tough to navigate, MailChimp may be just what you’ve been waiting for.
For more information regarding the service itself and/or the iVaughn.com Newsletter feel free to sign up for the newsletter at any time by visiting the iVaughn.com contact page or visit the MailChimp website.