Group
Project Directions
Purpose
This
assignment is designed to give you realistic experience designing
web sites for a client as part of a development team. Working
with two to three classmates, you will propose, design, and
create a fully functioning web site for a non-profit community
organization called Maize Blossom. Their two-fold
mission is to help teen mothers continue their
education and to help middle school students
at-risk for teen pregnancy to be more aware
of the realities of sexual activity without
preaching to them. Your web site will be aimed
at the latter purpose and audience and your
primary challenge will be to develop a design
and content
that
is appropriate for the target population. It
will need to resonate with their interests,
concerns, and identities
so that they will want to return
to the site often. After several intermediate
stages throughout the semester, you will pitch
your design and concept to Maize Blossom representatives
for
use in
their fundraising campaign and potentially
to Foundation Sponsors themselves.
Guidelines
for What You'll Be Doing
Based on your
discussion with Maize Blossom representatives who will
visit our class on several occasions,
your research into their organization and its goals, their
local target population and previously conducted audience analysis,
and your analysis of web sites for similar kinds of programs
in
other regions of the country, you will develop a web site that
best negotiates all of these variables. This is a complex project
which will need to result in a sophisticated and usable site.
Although I cannot specify
what you need to include (because these decisions are
part of the design process in which I want you to engage),
at
minimum the site your group creates should:
- fulfill
Maize Blossom's goals and purposes as outlined in the discussion
with its representatives
- put
forth a positive and inviting image of the Maize Blossom
organization, its mission, and the ideals it is pursuing
- appeal
to the intended audience of this aspect of the
program- middle school students in Southern New Mexico
- make
the message resonate with this population in a way that
puts forth
the realities of sex without preaching
- have
a usable hierarchy and navigation system so that web users
of all levels can find what they need quickly and easily
- have
an aesthetically pleasing interface and design- again,
make it appropriate for the target audience
- include
appropriate resources and links as suggested by Maize Blossom
Due
Dates
This is a large project that will take place over
the whole semester. However, it is broken up into several smaller steps
which are due as follows:
Written
Project Proposal
In order to complete this proposal, you will want to do
some additional research with Maize Blossom representatives
and intended audience members (if you have access to them)
to help you better understand how
to position
and construct
your site. You should also refer to your notes from the client's
presentation, as well as your analyses of other
teen pregnancy and teen-oriented web sites. With that in mind,
write up a proposal (about 500 words) for what you plan to
accomplish
in your site. Address and describe the following categories
to the best of your ability. Remember that the more thinking
and planning you do up front, the less backtracking and revising
you'll have to do later, though of course some of this will
be speculation at this point.
- purpose-
what do you plan to accomplish with this site?
- target
audience- who are you trying
to reach with this site? why? are there multiple audiences
(for example, boys
and girls, hispanic and anglo, city and rural, etc.)?
how will you identify & meet
their needs & interests?
- media-
what media do you plan to include & why? are these
plans appropriate for your audience's interests as well
as their technology access?
- description & site
concept- what
do you plan to do in this site? how do you plan to reach
your audience? what about your site will make it resonate
with the target population and make them want to return?
- rationale-
what justifications can you offer for your design ideas & choices?
(in other words, how can you convince your client that
what you plan to do will help them to attain their goals?)
Pitch
Proposal Presentations
The
purpose of giving a Pitch Presentation is to provide the
client with a limited variety of design options so as to
begin narrowing in on the design and features that will
best accomplish the goals and interests of the client.
At this time, you also give a rationale for your design
choices. You want to facilitate as specific feedback as
possible, while also listening sincerely to their concerns
and suggestions. Although I would prefer all members of
your group to participate in some way in these presentations,
you may choose to designate a certain member or members
to work as sales representatives if others in the group
also have specific roles within the development team. While
I hope that the feedback session will be somewhat informal
and collaborative, your presentation should be well-practiced
and prepared. Know exactly who will be responsible for
what and which features of each of your three designs you
will highlight for your client.
When
preparing for your presentation, consider the following:
- Audience:
Develop persuasive strategies by analyzing your audience
(your
classmates, your teacher, and what you know about your
client from our initial meeting with them and from the press
materials you will be given). Adapt your arguments about
your design concepts to address what
you
anticipate
might be different viewpoints held by your client.
- Strategies: Think
critically about your justification for your project site.
What is the best way to persuade your client that your
proposal is appropriate and appealing for the organization
and the site's
intended audience?
- Delivery: Decide
on a format for presenting your proposal that gives everyone
in your group an active role in the presentation- you are
all expected to participate in some way. Plan on where
you will stand during the parts of the presentation
and how the visual aids (your screen-based design mockups
and any other materials you want to include) will be handled
and by whom. Run through your plan at least once
before your
class
presentation.
Screen-based
Design Mockups
The purpose of doing multiple
on-screen mockups
is so that you can explore how different approaches and ideas
might begin to work in a digital context. Often times, what
seems like it will work fine on paper does not translate well
on screen either aesthetically or functionally. Also, when
working with clients, they will want to see several options
before giving the OK to continue development. This is an extremely
important step because without approval here, you may get to
the end of the design and development process only to find
that your client is not happy with the entire site. You will
present these mockups to each other and the client during the
Pitch Presentation to receive feedback and insights that
are often overlooked when you are immersed in a project.
On the day you do your Pitch Presentation, your team
will also turn in a CD containing three screen mockups in
.psd format
with all of the layers intact. These should be three completely
different designs, not just three mildly different versions
of the same design.
Site Map and Rationale
Having a clear and usable architecture
for your web site is just as important for your users as how
your site looks.
For this reason, you will create a complete site map, showing
every page within your site and how it is linked hierarchically
to every other page within your site (chapter 7 in your
textbook has a great explanation to help you out). You
are free to draw this by hand or by computer. Additionally,
your team will write a short, one page rationale discussing
your justification for this structure. You will need to
talk about your reasons for selecting it, how and why it
is appropriate for your target audience, and how it fits
the needs of your site.
Some reminders for working on your
site map and rationale (from WDW):
- limit your top-level links
to no more than five or seven (more than that can be
confusing to users)
- use short link names- convey
enough information so users know what to expect when
they click, but keep it
simple
- help users understand where they are within your site
at all times
- make it as easy as possible for users to from any
one section of your site to any other section of your
site
- make your navigation consistent by placing it in the
same location and keeping links in the same order on
every page
- include a link to your home page on every page of
your site
Working Draft
Version of Site
On this day, your site should be online (though not linked
to anywhere else except your class page) and fully functioning.
This will be a chance for you to observe others as they use
your navigation and to solicit their feedback on your
overall design and content. This stage of usability testing
is often called alpha testing (most sites and applications
go through a later round of beta testing when it is more complete
and nearly finished). Your objective is to hear critiques and
suggestions while there is still time to revise your approach
and fix errors and glitches. Although your navigation should
be fully operational so that users can get to all pages in
your site, the project does not have to be completely finished
(an impossibility in web design anyway) on this day.
Revised/Final Version of Site
A final version of your site will be due at the beginning of
Week 14 for grading and evaluation. This will allow me time
to provide feedback so that if you want or need to do any last
minute tweaking before the final client presentation (and the
end of the semester) you will have time to do it.
Final
Presentations
This will be an opportunity
to show off all of your hard work and to celebrate your
accomplishments. On this day, your
site should be completely finished so that Maize Blossom representatives
and the rest of the class can see it in all of its glory. Your
presentation should
include a walk-through of the site and its features, as well
as a discussion of why the choices you
made along
the way are appropriate for the target audience. In
evaluating your performance I will be looking at how well you
are able to articulate your design decisions in relation to
the criteria discussed by the client, the development and rhetorical
issues we have discussed in class, and the audience research
you have conducted.
|
