Design method

Web development is a collaborative process, just as a successful Web site is a collaboration between those who publish it and those who use it. Some of that collaboration is digital, via Wiki and blogs. Most of it is more old-fashioned.

In working with our clients, employ high-tech tools. We also use tools that are as low-tech as a well-chewed No. 2 pencil.

Our approach is rooted in research techniques developed during the decades which preceded networked digital computing.

We ask questions. We ask questions very much as well-trained anthropologists and professional journalists ask questions.

We listen to your answers.

We observer, unobtrusively. We read your problications. Indeed, we do a lot of research. In a formal sense, all of that is a part of requirements gathering. All of it means we are painstakingly gathering the requirements for your Web site.

Throughout that requirements gathering process, we analyze, synthesize and systematically reflect our conclusions back to you for your comment and revision. We do that face-to-face, via telephone, through email and by way of:

• Wiki, like SCWiki. Our Wiki support dynamically generated, readily revised information architecture diagrams.
• Blogs like the Southern Connections blog.

Secure (HTTPS) Wiki and/or blogs, however, so that only authorized project participants can view or comment on the material.

Design requirements define the site's information architecture. The information architecture is the big picture of the site. It guides design and development, helps resolve maintenance issues after rollout and provides a map for growth and change.

• The mission and vision of the site. These are the purposes, goals and organizing metaphors which guide the site's development. In addition to defining them, we must balance the goals and needs of content creators against the needs and desires of users and those of advertisers.
• The content and functionality the site will contain. We know a site will offer text, images, user-adjustable type sizes and more. We must also consider podcasts, movies, animations and other means of publication and/or product promotion.
• User navigation of the site. We must establish the visual organization, navigational structures, names, labels and site search features.
• Integration of a blog/virtual community into the site must be addressed. Blog-like interactivity has become a necessity of doing business on the Web.
• Underlying and a part of this is the directory structure which organizes the site at a software/operating-system level. It is also represented in information-architecture diagrams.
• Provisions for change and growth. Sites usually grow in predictable ways. We must script logical expansions, fit them into the information architecture and make associated capacity plans. The result must be a site that will accommodate growth and elaboration without becoming unwieldy to manage or difficult to use.

This information architecture is the foundation of good design.

Our design and development process is research-verified. Among product designers and architects our general approach is commonly referred to as iterative design.

We begin (day one) by presenting several concepts to the client and/or test audiences specified by the client. They are clearly concepts: Not finished designs. Participants rank and otherwise review them.

As a result of participant feedback, some designs are discarded.

Survivors are revised.

We present revisions (day two) and gather feedback.

Using your feedback, we again discard the unfit, make revisions and present the survivors (day three ...).

This rapid-fire process continues (day four ...?) until one, agreed-upon design remains.

Like successful bricks and mortar businesses, successful Web sites are "customer first." Our design process is also "customer first." Everything depends upon the business goals of our clients. We develop solutions that are both maintainable and effective in helping our clients meet their business goals.

Maintainability is one of the keystones of our approach. SC StoryMaker is a highly scalable, enterprise application that makes it economical and straightforward for our clients to maintain their Web sites.

Because full-time technical staff is typically not something our clients can afford, we developed SC StoryMaker do that otherwise complex job for them. As a result, our clients are free to concentrate on their core businesses, using the Web as a tool of their trade.

Site design and SC StoryMaker configuration proceed hand in hand.

Training in use of SC StoryMaker is a part of all of our projects. We believe that our all of tools should be as easy to use as are our Web sites.

Some of our sites are remarkably simple. One of the first, and most successful during its era, was almost pure text. Some are alive with animation. We do write software, and love it. We have a passion for digital art.

We don't let any of that get in the way.

We know Web users require a site that:

• Loads fast (very, very fast).
• Is easy to navigate (so easy that it seems transparent to them).
• Is easy to read (and easy to scan, like this list).
• Delivers what it promises (and what they seek).

Give Web users anything else, and at least part of your design, hosting and maintenance investment is wasted. They will leave quickly. They are unlikely to give your site a second chance.

In Web design, as in modern architecture, less is more.

We would be honored to make a proposal and quote you a price. Send us email: southern@southernconnections.com.

If you have time, fill out our introductory form.

Call us at (919) 341-2999.

We would like to know about you, your enterprise and the business goals you have for the Web. We would like to be of service.