WEB DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL ACUMIN v0.1 Author: Mark Johnson
24/06/2010 New Brand Media owns the copyright for this document and all its contents. This proposal should be considered private and confidential and may not be shared with any third party without the prior written permission of New Brand Media.
Contents !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!
About Us Our Technical Standards Our User-Centred Design Approach UCD Methodology Understand the Target Audience Design the Information Architecture Prototyping & Content Management Software Licensing Team Profiles Deliverables & Cost
About Us
New Brand Media is a digital agency, set up to make brands online through the use of strategic design and development methodologies
Our User-Centred Design approach is the result of a over a decade of design & development for some of the world’s leading brands
About Us We are structured to ensure integrated branding across the multiple channels that make up today's landscape
Mobile
Web
Social Media
Our Technical Standards World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the governing body that defines best practices for web development. New Brand Media will work to these ‘web standards’ so that Acumin site can gain many strategic advantages including: 1) Multi-channel content delivery (Mobile Apps, Social Media, Blogging) The principle of separating presentation (Design/CSS code) from content (stored in a database and formatted to XML standards) will provide Acumin with a future proof platform, well positioned for integration with the imminent mobile applications as well as reducing ongoing maintenance. 2) Reduce Maintenance Costs Importantly, the aforementioned coding practices will reduce Acumin's content management costs by ensuring the web database forms the single content repository or 'digital hub' for realtime distribution to these channels. This will avoid any effort duplication on their part and will allow Acumin to not only update their web site in-house but also potentially other platforms such as mobile apps, simultaneously.
Our Technical Standards 3) Accessibility Improvements The law enforcing accessible web design came into force on 1st October 1999 and the Code of Practice for this section of the Act was published on 27th May 2002. “The Act makes it unlawful for a service provider to discriminate against a disabled person by refusing to provide any service which it provides to members of the public.” For example, if a blind user was unable to apply for a job because the web site was not accessible to screen readers this is a provision of a service and would be subject to the act. In reality, the chance of your organization being sued is very slim. Pretty much all websites have some accessibility issues with many government web sites included! However, a website in the human resources sector should be sensitive to discrimination and therefore so we would recommend following web standards in Phase 0.1 to at least lay down the foundations of accessibility. Accessibility should be seen as a long term ethical stance and we recommend making your website ‘single A’ compliant as soon as possible after this initial first release.
Our User-Centred Design Approach
User-centred design is about understanding your target audience and designing round their needs and goals. Placing ‘the user’ at the centre of the design process makes a web site easy to navigate and pleasure for them to use. Consequently, high standards of usability ensure your site delivers on the business objectives.
UCD Methodology – ‘understand, create, evaluate’ Our methodology is an iterative approach, lean on documentation and rich in action (prototyping).
RECENT NEW BRAND MEDIA CLIENTS:
UCD Methodology – ‘understand, create, evaluate’
RECENT NEW BRAND MEDIA CLIENTS:
Understanding the Target Audience The following analysis will be conducted at the very the outset of the project: Define User Profiles - User Profiling seeks to understand target users and identify their needs and characteristics. Establish User Goals – A process of grouping, prioritising and optimising the activities of users. Plan User Journeys – User-flow diagrams are developed and optimised around the established user goals. These ‘user journeys’ are extrapolated to form the primary information architecture of the site.
Design the Information Architecture Usable web sites come from a focus on the ‘people‘ who will use the application, over the technology or corporate structure that produces it. An experienced Information Architect will direct your site content so that it is: !! Categorised in a way your target audience understands designed to make to their goals easy to achieve !! Consistent, useable and intuitive !! Optimised for search engine ranking A sitemap will be produced as a framework for the site content, ready for prototyping.
Prototyping the Information Architecture & Content Management On the Internet, ‘content is king’. Yet too often, content is not considered early enough in the web development process in the rush to the visual ‘design’. Our approach is to engage the content management solution at the earliest stage in order to ‘Prototype’ the information architecture in a ‘real’ web site driven by the database. This means we will be perfecting the content throughout the entire project build cycle. A prototyping approach therefore enables: !! A web-based content repository that is visible and editable by all project stakeholders regardless of location (Remote client access). !! A more ‘human-friendly’ method of inputting copy into the database which can be previewed immediately in a ‘real’ website context as opposed to being in isolated and unconnected Word documents. !! Improved usability. Writing site copy with a sense of connectivity to other pages will improve screen logic and navigation. !! Iterative content improvements throughout the project timeline.
Prototyping the Information Architecture & Content Management The Acumin team will be set up with individual user accounts with varying degrees of authorization to access and edit the content prototype and subsequently, the actual web site. This will establish an approval workflow for Acumin to manage their site content from administrator to editor going forward. Any third party can be given access at Acumin's discretion, be that a PR company or SEO Copywriter with publishing rights as appropriate. For example, a PR Agent may be permitted to edit and publish content whereas a SEO Copywriter may only be permitted to add meta-tags and submit content changes to the main administrator for approval before going live. This allows Acumin to scale up and down outside support as they choose.
Content Management Software & Licensing The New Brand Media framework is built on the Open Source Content management System, WordPress. WordPress is the leading Blogging Platform in the market and being Open Source there would be no additional licensing costs to Acumin. The framework we have developed 'on top' of WordPress adds modular functionality extensions that deliver on a number of typical business needs that we have come across whilst developing content management systems for clients over the last 10 years. Below is a snapshot of some of the key refinements we have made that make our system infinitely more flexible and powerful than your average CMS 'out of the box': !! Simple Embedding of Video, Flash and Podcasts !! SEO friendly URL Structure !! Drag & Drop Page Template building via the CMS (infinite numbers of unique templates) !! PHP based for rendering keywords from external sources in-page and indexable by Google and others. (SiteFinity license: ÂŁ612Annual SiteFinity Support: ÂŁ183 (calculated at 20% of initial license cost) http://www.sitefinity.com/purchase.aspx
Deliverables & Cost PROTOTYPE PHASE v0.1
Cost
FUNCTIONAL PROTOTYPE Hosting Specification & Acquisition Set up & Configuration of Apache web hosting environment Database development Sub total
750
INTERFACE DESIGN & BRANDING 2 X LOOK & FEEL CONCEPT DESIGNS FINAL DESIGN Refinement FRONT-END TEMPLATE & CONTENT FINAL DESIGN -
Home page
-
2nd Level Page Template
-
News & Blog Template
IMAGE OPTIMIZATION / PRODUCTION* Sub total
2600
Deliverables & Cost FRONT END Template Development (HTML CSS CODE DEVELOPMENT & CMS Integration) Home page 2nd Level Page Template News & Blog Template SUB TOTAL BROWSER TESTING IE 7 (PC) IE 8 (PC) Firefox 2+ (PC) Safari 2+ (Mac) Firefox 2+ (Mac)
Time
625
SUB TOTAL
562.50
Management Management at 2hr per day
393.75
GRAND TOTAL
4931.25
Team Profiles Our management is structured to ensure integrated branding across mobile, web & social media
Senior Team / Creative Director
Web Jonathan brings over 15 years experience to his role as Creative Director at New Brand Media.He has helped some of the world’s leading brands engage, interact and build relationships with their customers through engaging, user-centered, brand experiences.
JONATHAN PORTER Creative Director EXPERTISE: ART DIRECTION, BRANDING, INTERACTIVE DESIGN, USABILITY.
Practiced in managing multidisciplinary teams, strategic direction and development of an award-winning ‘Customer Experience Design Team’ he is the author of the New Brand Media’s user-centred design methodology with an in-depth understanding of the branding, design and technology challenges facing enterprise-level clients today.
Senior Team / Head of Social Media & Search
Social Media & Search Trevor is a highly experience online marketing and e-commerce professional with over 10 years in the Internet industry. He specialises in search engine marketing, social media and e-commerce. Trevor believes passionately in the potential for targeted internet marketing to transform businesses.
TREVOR GINN Head of Search & Social Media EXPERTISE: SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION, SOCIAL MEDIA OPTIMISATION, E-COMMERCE.
The online opportunity for businesses is huge, but recently survey by Barclay card found that two-thirds of businesses miss out on sales by not offering their sales on services online. His approach is to consider all aspects of a company’s online business to grow traffic in a cost effective manner and ensure that this traffic is converted into sales. As well as working as a consultant, Trevor has hands on experience of running an e-commerce business through his online retailing business, Hello Baby www.hellobabydirect.co.uk. His blog on e-commerce and Internet marketing can be found at www.trevorginn.com Unfortunately, however, his magnum opus The Online Marketing Handbook is still a work in progress.
Senior Team / Head of Mobile
Mobile Mathias brings over 12 years mobile experience to New Brand Media. He provides mobile development expertise with solutions for: •!Apple iPhone •!Rim Blackberry •!Microsoft Pocket •!Android With 3 successful iPhone apps on iTunes we are helping New Brand Media clients to deliver their brand in new and innovative ways.
MATHIAS DIETRICH Head of Mobile EXPERTISE: PLANNING, EXECUTION & IMPLEMENTATION. STANDARDS & FORMATS, NEW TECHNOLOGIES, PRODUCT SPECIFICATION & ROAD MAPS, ENTERPRISE COMPUTING, CLOUD COMPUTING, SO A IN JAVA AND .NET
A successful mobile entrepreneur in his own right, Mathias created the first complex PDA GPRS despatch system in London in 2002. His ground breaking software on the early XDA’s changed the economics for Radio Taxis, Blueback and others back then, but today, he prefers his iPhone. Creating successful mobile applications is just one of many strings to Mathias’ bow. He also has a golden (and platinum!) past as an Audio engineer in one of Germany’s most established studio’s, achieving 1 platinum and 4 gold discs with artists such as Brian Eno, Hawkwind and a host of top German stars. He is available for weddings and karaoke.
Senior Team / Head of Strategy
Strategy John holds a BSc in molecular biology from King’s College, London and a Master’s in Industrial Design Engineering from the Royal College of Art (with Imperial College). He has worked for 10 years in industry including five as Head of Design for a dot.com technology company, where he was creative director and manager of the 12-strong design team, followed by three years as an independent design consultant. He is also a contributing lecturer in industrial design and project tutor on the MET1 course. He recently completed a PhD at Cambridge University, investigating the role of design as a strategic resource. He also loves snowboarding and Jelly Babies.
JOHN STEVENS Head of Strategy EXPERTISE: DESIGN MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY
John’s specialities lie within design management and strategy, matching an organisation’s strategic concerns to design’s potential contribution, through all areas of an organisation. He is passionate about design’s value in creating experiences with clarity and impact, simplifying complex tasks, and making interactions clear, easy and pleasurable for all: “Firms that really ‘get’ design make damn sure it is permitted to reach through and between all areas of their organisation. Not as easy as it sounds - the connections are fragile and the benefits hard to quantify. But design integrates and shapes the ways an organisation is experienced, not only by the customer but by all stake-holders. This underpins the true meaning of ‘brand’, and right now this means firms need to engage design specialists that can join the dots. New Brand Media know their bit and where they fit, and I’m delighted to be associated with their great work.”