Project 1 Overview
- Oct 6: Site Inventory and Analysis due; start of class
- Oct 20: Site Prototype due; start of class; present to class
- Dec 8: Final Site Re-design due; present to class
the assignment
Project 1 is a collaborative project which involves an imaginative redesign of a section of an existing informational web site. Very often, web designers are asked to re-design a web site which already exists. The site may be clumsy, confusing, hard to navigate, aesthetically unappealing, or simply outdated and in need of restructuring. It may lack enough content to interest readers, or provide so much content that is hard for readers to navigate. Consider, for example, the changes that have been made to the Rowan University web site over time:
You can even see as his design skills evolved.
For this project, we will work in groups of 6 to redesign one section of a Rowan University web site: Computing and Technology. In order to make this project succeed, groups will need to work collaboratively, innovatively, and thoughtfully. There are multiple tasks associated with each of the three stages. The stages — inventory and analysis, prototype, and final re-design — correspond to the chapters in Web Re-Design 2.0. We will be working on each stage, in order, over the course of 2 weeks.
steps to complete the assignment
- Become very familiar with the web site as it is currently posted and complete site inventory to find out what information is available at the site. Please be strategic in reviewing what is there in order to develop a fairly complete inventory. The inventory can be stored on a web page, a Word document, flo-chart, or other electronic form.
- Conduct comparison research, reviewing and making notes about other sites with a similar purpose or audience. What kind of content is provided? How is it organized? How well is it presented? How usable is it?
- Analyze the potential audiences for the web site and their needs. This involves fieldwork research. You might conduct an email survey of users, do face to face interviews, and/or observe users who are accessing the site to get a sense of how they use the site and their opinions about its content, organization, and design.
- Think through the categories of information, organization, and navigation structure for a proposed redesign of the site.
- Prepare a final design proposal with a prototype (about 10 web pages) and a two-page rationale for the design.
- Complete the re-design for the pages in your prototype.
the groups
Group numbers link to the group’s Web page.
| Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Charles Ackerman | Jessica Bloom | Jen Fitzgerald |
| Tara DiFrancisco | Meg Esola | Jackie Halbach |
| Dana Dietrich | Katie Fitzpatrick | Jackie Lautato |
| Jacqui Mainart | Angel Perez | Renee Marchand |
| Brittany Mitros | Danielle Rabello | Brittany Shaw |
| Jessica Peterson | Jen Riggitano | Joan Vance |