{"id":1979,"date":"2015-06-29T09:42:37","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T08:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/webdev\/?p=1979"},"modified":"2016-06-07T16:34:46","modified_gmt":"2016-06-07T15:34:46","slug":"alpha-so-far-more-discovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/webdev\/2015\/06\/29\/alpha-so-far-more-discovery\/","title":{"rendered":"Website redesign, beginning alpha – more discovery and experimentation"},"content":{"rendered":"

So we\u2019ve finished our discovery phase<\/a> for the website redesign project. Well we thought we had finished.<\/p>\n

And so begins the alpha phase<\/a>. \u00a0It\u2019s about experimentation, and let\u2019s face it, who doesn\u2019t enjoy a bit of experimentation?<\/p>\n

How do we communicate all this stuff?<\/h2>\n

We consolidated our discovery findings and created a presentation and a basic content strategy draft to help lead our discussions.<\/p>\n

Beginning with more intimate and frank discussions with key stakeholders and we then slowly expanded our findings to other groups and teams.<\/p>\n

Our strong message is that in order to deliver our vision of a website for the future<\/a>, we need to have a central content strategy to support research and recruitment<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The reception has been very positive.<\/p>\n

Initially titled \u201cThe Theme Project\u201d, the project name is a misnomer – we don\u2019t want to skin a website (pig\/lipstick). Our discovery has resulted in more significant changes that are needed to deliver strategic, user-centred content.<\/p>\n

\"blog-pig\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A design workshop\u2026 then more discovery<\/h2>\n

There hasn’t been a\u00a0neat separation between discovery and alpha phases, learning is ongoing. Discovery has lead to more discovery as we\u2019ve began to understand the challenges in delivering user-centred content as the tenet of\u00a0this project.<\/p>\n

We had a mood board workshop<\/a> which led us to discuss the shortcomings of our current brand imagery and the need for purposeful, quality imagery.<\/p>\n

A strong visual design for a new website will rely on strong imagery (and video).<\/p>\n

Our existing image guidelines and offerings need to be improved. How can we pool our expertise and be better coordinated to deliver quality imagery and guidelines with few resources?<\/p>\n

A design workshop<\/a> with colleagues from various departments began our first step in collaborating on design and creating a common understanding. This began us thinking about high-level approaches for design.<\/p>\n

\"blog-sketches-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was clear that we needed a better understanding of prospective students and camped in Enrollment Management Services<\/a> for a couple of days to draw on their knowledge.<\/p>\n

This resulted in:<\/p>\n