At Rockfish Interactive this year we have a lot of website redesign projects coming up. It always seems a harder more daunting task to do a redesign than to do a new site. So, this had me wondering why? And after many long hours of reading great articles, especially one by Cameron Moll called "Good Designers Redesign, Great Designers Realign" which can be found here on A List Apart's site, I figured I would compile a list of questions from my notes and see if I could help the next designer facing this task.
In 2009 at Rockfish I had the opportunity to go through a thorough review of two of our sites by the Nielsen Norman Group. These reviews opened my eyes to taking a different approach once a site is dubbed "Finished". Recently I saw a quote that read "The ink on a website is never dry." I find this too true as websites and applications can benefit so much by listening to the feedback users can give you and the insight analytics can provide. So, this is where I started with my redesign questions. When your faced with a redesign see if you can get site analytics, do some guerilla user testing and figure out the source of the question "Why?". So in no particular order is a list of questions I will approach every redesign with so that I can make sure the purpose is not just to keep up with the latest trends:
Questions to ask:
1. What is going on with the current site? If possible reference site analytics or conduct your own guerilla user testing.
2. What is the motivating factor for the site redesign?
Good reasons include:
a. Company or product re-brand
b. Desire for marketplace repositioning
c. Implementation of much needed new functionality
3. How can the company or product become more successful with the redesign?
4. What is the Goal of the redesign?
5. What do you hope to accomplish?
6. What aspects of the current design are most effective?
7. What aspects of the current design are least effective?
8. Does the logo/branding need changed/updated/remain the same?
9. What is the company’s position?
10. Does the color scheme remain the same?
11. What are the focal points of the design?
12. How can the navigation be made more effective?
13. Clearly define desired audience, visual design style, message, tone, and technical requirements.
14. Start with what they want the site to accomplish.
15. Ask about CMS, updates, and maintenance.
16. How has the company changed since last site was launched?
17. How does the new look reflect who the company is and the experience they want people to have when they interact with.
18. Who is coming to the site?
19. What action do you want visitors to take when on the new site?
Good things to think about:
1. Websites need to grab attention.
2. Pay attention to details
3. Carefully consider the messaging.
4. Without content the redesign becomes a book without words. A business plan without a business.