Michael Richard Murphy » Website Design

The Life of a Redesign Project. Part 1: First Contact

Michael Richard Murphy — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 13:13:02 +0000

This is part one of a series on the project lifecycle for a typical website redesign. Here is the intro and a little background on the idea.

The first phase of any of my projects begins after the initial contact with a prospective client. We’ve talked (depending on geography, either by meeting in person or conversations via phone, instant message, Skype, etc) and they’ve expressed an interest in my services. Usually I try to get as much detail about the project as possible during this interaction. First, I want to qualify them according to a few criteria: is it the type of work I do? Does the expected start time and duration fit into my workload? Is their budget reasonable and does it align with my rates?

Sometimes at this point I find out the client doesn’t have a budget, or they’re reluctant to tell me what it is. This isn’t always a deal breaker, but it could be a warning sign. No budget could mean a few things:

The client isn’t familiar enough with the process to have even a rough idea of what things cost – not a huge deal but will probably require a little extra hand holding throughout the process.
They haven’t thought enough about the project. This can make extra work for me in the long run. If the client can’t clearly define exactly what they want, I’m trying to hit a moving target. It will be particularly important to nail down, and agree to, specific requirements before beginning. Otherwise these types of projects tend to get larger and larger (scope creep). Again, not a deal breaker but it will be important to keep things on track. I have a questionnaire that I use to try to get clients thinking more in-depth about their project.
If they have a budget but won’t disclose it, they’re probably shopping around by price. If I can determine that’s the case, I usually say “thanks but no thanks” and move on. I’m not trying to position myself as the lowest cost provider so it’ll likely be a waste of time. I can spend hours researching solutions and putting together a proposal, only to get it tossed out if I’m not cheapest.

What They Really Need, Not Just Want

Once I know my skills, availability, and rates fit with the prospect’s general requirements, it’s time to get into more detail. Prior to writing a proposal, I give my prospective client a copy of this web design project kick-off questionnaire.

The questionnaire is a living document that gets edited and the questions asked are specific to each client’s project. They make a good starting point to get them thinking about their project in terms they can more easily communicate to the developer. What they tell me helps me need their needs better. For example: if the client anticipates that their initial content will quickly be outdated or needs frequent updates, my solution should probably include the ability to modify that content.

Sometimes clients come to me with very specific requests. They saw something somewhere and really liked it, their competitors have it so they need it, or they read or heard that technology X is “really hot right now”. Sometimes there are legitimate reasons behind these requests but other times what they think they want isn’t what they actually need to solve their real problem. The questionnaire can help me get to the bottom of that, uncover their goals, and tailor a solution to meet those goals. Not just keep up with trends and fads.

Eating My Own Dog Food

If you’ve ever heard that saying, then you know it’s a good idea to use your own products and services to show clients what you can do. That’s one reason why I’m keeping this journal of my own redesign. When the series is complete, I’ll have documented my process and have a much needed redesign of this site. The next post will cover my answers to the questionnaire and nail down requirements necessary for the proposal.

Additional Resources

Paul Boag from the UK firm Headscape has some excellent articles on the web development process and getting the most from the client and designer/developer relationship:

My kick-off questionnaire is based on the Freelance Switch article How to Extract the Facts with a Web Design Client Questionnaire. Martha’s excellent post contains some additional questions as well as explanations of the relevance and importance of each answer.

The Smile Exchange

Michael Richard Murphy — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:02:13 +0000

The Smile Exchange is the brainchild of Mark Colgan as a way to “pay-it-forward”; recognizing people for their good deeds and inspiring others.

James from House of Bogue originally approached me about developing the project after he signed on to do the design. The idea behind The Smile Exchange sounded interesting to me. It certainly wasn’t your average brochure-ware site, and I knew that the features and functionality they wanted would take me a little outside of my comfort zone and challenge me. So of course I said yes.

Because of the completely voluntary nature of the site, we knew we needed to eliminate as many barriers to entry as possible. With that in mind, Facebook users can connect with one button click and be interacting with the community in seconds. Registration for non-Facebookers was pared down to just the essentials: username, email and password.

While Mark has lots of plans for growing The Smile Exchange, the initial release is all about getting the basics right. The design and functionality focuses specifically on the most important aspect: to make writing and sharing updates as simple as possible. Easy ability to share updates on Facebook and Twitter help spread the word and the ability for smile traders (members) to connect and share with one another helps build a sense of community. We’ll use member feedback to determine where things go from here.

Consider joining and posting a good deed to inspire others or just browse and be inspired yourself.

The Cobbler’s Children Have No Shoes

Michael Richard Murphy — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 17:07:40 +0000

I think “the cobbler’s children have no shoes” is a pretty common saying regardless of what field you’re in. If it doesn’t sound familiar, it’s a rough translation of a Spanish proverb. The idea is that someone with a specific skill is often too busy assisting others that their own affairs go unattended.

Maybe it’s a designer’s attention to detail/quest for perfection or the rapidly changing nature of technology and trends but it’s always seemed particularly apt for web designers. We regularly complete (hopefully) amazing client work while our own websites become outdated and neglected. I know I’ve spent weeks redesigning my own website, working in fits and bursts between paying client work, only to get bored or tired of what I’ve done before I even get around to implementing it. Likewise, I know that I should be creating content for my own site while helping others find their voice. But it just doesn’t seem to happen that way.

Matt Kersley has an interesting solution to this dilemma. He’s published an undesigned version of his site with the idea that as a web designer, he’s now represented online, very publicly, by a crap site (his words, not mine). And that will sufficiently motivate him to finish as soon as possible.

Although I’m not necessarily as brave as Matt, the idea did inspire me. Of course, instead of just copying a great idea, I needed a little twist to make it my own. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone and write about it as well. It sounded like a good opportunity to educate potential clients on my process and maybe get some feedback from others on how/why they do things differently. At the end of the project, I should have the redesign I’ve needed for a while and hopefully some interesting content as well. Win-win.

I expect the process, and subsequent posts, to cover some of the following topics: requirements gathering (what are my goals for the redesign? What do I need to do differently this time to accomplish them? What needs to be added, removed, or changed?), the design process (how will the site look and act to accomplish the goals and meet the requirements we set?), prototyping and implementation (the actual building/development), feedback and follow-up (what metrics for success did we decide on in the requirements phase? What are the results? Did the redesign accomplish our goals?).

TEDxBuffalo

Michael Richard Murphy — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 12:17:22 +0000

To me, TED conferences are a big deal. I love the idea of so many interesting people coming together to share their ideas and passions. So I’m honored to play even a small part in TEDxBuffalo.

The TEDxBuffalo design comes from the amazingly talented Matt and Laura at 12 Grain Studio and was implemented by me. The WordPress back-end makes it easy for contributors and organizers to post and update content. And the custom theme has easily editable content widget areas in the sidebar and footer, multiple configurable navigation options, and the ability to display post thumbnails and excerpts on the homepage.

Please visit the TEDxBuffalo website for more information on attending, participating, and sponsorship opportunities.

Bay Road Grocery & Deli design refresh

Michael Richard Murphy — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:46:52 +0000

I was really excited when I got a call from Mike at Bay Road Grocery & Deli. The convenience store, located at the corner of Volk and Bay roads in Webster, was an institution in my childhood neighborhood and I have fond memories of riding my bike with friends there for candy, soda and cap guns.

Bay Road Grocery had an existing website but Mike wanted to update the look and feel as well as remedy the site’s poor search engine rankings. As it turns out, most of the content (images and text) was embedded in a rotating-type javascript gallery. Not exactly search engine friendly. Or easily update-able.

As part of the refresh, I created a WordPress-based site for Mike with a custom theme. Using WordPress gave him the ability to get in and easily update the content on his site that changes frequently; like his menu, the kinds of lottery tickets he sells, and any lottery winners from his store. That also moves the valuable content that describes his store and the services he provides from obscurity in javascript code to plain search engine readable text.

The custom theme was created using proper, semantic HTML markup with the headings and structure that make search engine optimization more effective. Design-wise, the whitewashed plank header and weathered logo enhance and reinforce the nautical theme echoed throughout the store itself.

HUSVAR Photography

Michael Richard Murphy — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:51:56 +0000

Looking for more design control than his current Blogspot account offered, Buffalo-based photographer, Sean Husvar approached me about implementing a WordPress blog for him based on a great, clean design by Nubby. The look and feel of the site represents a new identity that will carry over to Husvar’s MySpace, Twitter, Facebook and other social media account profiles. “Go Live” for the new site kicks off a social media marketing campaign.

The site is a WordPress blog with a WPESP Portfolio theme, heavily customized to match Nubby’s design as well as be semantically correct and search engine friendly. Other work for the project included setup and configuration of several analytics, search engine optimization, and social media plug-ins.

Boy Scouts of America Pack 48 blog

Michael Richard Murphy — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:30:22 +0000

As a local Boy Scouts of America pack leader, Jon, wanted a website where he could easily disseminate information on upcoming pack and den activities as well as post pictures from those events.

I set Jon up with a WordPress blog that allows him to create and edit all the content. Author accounts for each den leader allow them to be responsible for all the content pertaining to their groups, offloading that task from Jon. Gallery photo management software allows Jon and the other den leaders to upload photos and create/edit albums. Parents and others, with the proper permissions, can browse the albums and even send photos to services like Snapfish, Shutterfly, etc.

Best of all, WordPress and Gallery are free open-source applications. Which helped Jon get a website with loads of well-supported features and still stay within his budget.

Embrasse-Moi Lingerie blog

Michael Richard Murphy — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:25:12 +0000

Embrasse-Moi, a luxurious lingerie boutique in Pittsford, had a Blogger blog with loads of great content in the form of articles and fashion reviews, tips, and news. Unfortunately, since all that content was hosted on the Blogspot.com domain, none of their hard work was benefitting their own website, http://www.embrasse-moi-lingerie.com, with increased search engine ranking.

I set up a new WordPress blog on their existing domain and imported all their content so they wouldn’t lose or have to manually enter any posts or comments. They also really liked the design, layout and features of their Blogger blog so I created a WordPress theme that retained that look and feel as well as all the sidebar features.

Embrasse-Moi’s blog design and features stayed the same, their publishing process stayed the same, and now they get all the search engine benefits of having all that great content on their own domain!

12 Hours In A City

Michael Richard Murphy — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:33:18 +0000

My good friend Clark has been getting a lot of press recently about his new project 12 Hours In A City and I’m pleased to announce I’ll be helping him out.

These guys are using JetBlue’s All You Can Jet Pass to get a taste of America and get the experience of a lifetime. They’ll be visiting about 27 cities in 30 days, relying heavily on contacts made through social media sites for tips on interesting things to do in each city, rides around town, and places to crash for the night.

So far they’re off to a good start, they made it on the homepage of CNN’s Travel section the day they left and got invited to a see a Red Sox game from the Dunkin Donuts box at Fenway Park in Boston (their first stop)!

With their rigorous travel schedule and the fact that they’ll be spending most of their downtime in the air, I’ll be administering the site, making updates here and there, and implementing some additional social networking functionality.

Good luck and safe travels!

American Cancer Society’s Celebrate Hope Gala

Michael Richard Murphy — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:00:49 +0000

Sheri needed an informational website for the American Cancer Society’s local Celebrate Hope Gala honoring the Wegman family. The clean, elegant design maintains the branding established by their print invitations. In addition to the details about the event, including the amazing menu, the site also gives donors access to Candle of Hope order forms.

Michael exceeded my delivery expectations for the project. I have known Michael both professionally and personally for a number of years and I have always been impressed with his willingness to go above and beyond to delight his customers. Thank you Michael!-Sheri McKenna