REDESIGN - IS IT TO COMPLETELY CHANGE OR JUST REVISE THE DESIGN OF YOUR CURRENT WEB SITE?

That should be the first question you ask yourself when thinking about expanding your business, introducing your brand and image on a completely new market, or when trying to meet the ever-changing demands of your competition. It is the basis for a successful marketing campaign and the key for taking advantage of effective and innovative ways for keeping and expanding your customer base.

Adopting the above issue as a necessary and inevitable move is the first step. It is the purpose of this article to guide you through the most efficient approach and techniques for achieving the second step: developing and maintaining a new site that would serve as the ultimate business tool and at the same time be expressive of the visual character of your company.

The methods below are useful for both designers and business leaders.

1. REDESIGNING THE SITE’S PURPOSE:

Defining the GOAL for the new site is the key for the ultimate success in both process and result. Never losing track of that aim would provide for positive feedback from the client and for an adequate user experience.

FACTORS THAT SHOULD INFLUENCE THE SITE’S PURPOSE:

• TARGETING A GROUP OF AUDIENCE. Your web site, most likely, is the only experience that customers and audiences worldwide get to come into contact with. This is your most efficient and cost effective tool to communicate in a direct and comprehensive way to your targeted audience. Thus you can hire a design firm to deliver the most stunning graphic interface, but if the site does not meet the functions and content that the targeted audience is looking for, you risk to lose your most influential market.
  
  The goal could be summarized in three steps:
  
  - redesign the site’s visual quality and navigation;
  - create a more detailed and intelligent functionality;
  - be the tool for intensifying the relationship between the image brand and the public.
  
  
• NEW TECHNOLOGY that has come to exist since the previously designed site. The use of Flash has become one of the most popular visual quality that one can add to a web site. Still it is important to know when to take advantage of that technology, since improper use could hinder the goal of the site and push away customers. Depending on the type of business, a site done completely in flash could speak volumes to the referred customer base, other corporations might need to consider to facilitate only the navigation trough Flash, or just put attention to a specific area of content. Taking advantage of data driven sites, and site optimization for search engines can provide any business with incredible source for long-term savings and consequently increase your profit margins.
  
  
• LEARNING FROM THE PREVIOUS SITE STATISTICS should be a priority in the planning stages for the new web site, since you want to never repeat the mistakes and failure points of the previous site. Use the history of the previous site to your advantage. Looking at the most visited sections of the site should give you a clear path for what needs to be improved so that the visitor can reach that important information in the fewest clicks possible. This quick research can let you know immediately for what works and what does not in the specific targeted market, guiding you to the most effective means of delivering the right information. Combine it with the research on audience, client, their ambitions, the structure of the company and brand ideology and you almost have the recipe for success, but…not yet.

2. NEW DESIGN DIRECTION:

• REDESIGN: INTERFACE, DESIGN, CONTENT MANAGEMENT, these are the three major elements within the context of the new design definition, development and production. For that you have the advantage of the old site, which you can use to walk the client through, giving them an analysis for the weaknesses and strengths. This allows you to involve the client in the redesign process and showcase your knowledge and experience. The client is educated to a larger extent with the web than their previous site experience, being able to articulate better his needs and inspirations, which should be expressed in every element of the redesign. It also allows for discussing on tools that could give the client more power in managing their own site. Always look for faster more efficient ways to continue after the launch of the site.
  
  
• THE LEVEL OF REDESIGN is a decision that could make the process much easier or put you for a whole new task. It is important if you have never worked with the client before, to not completely disregard the image and content sources of the previous site. If the available photography is powerful and still descriptive of the character of the company, then it could be applied and save you time towards your new concept. The important question is to ask and get a very clear understanding of where the focus needs to be shifted: content, photography or navigation. The web site could be already successful in capturing a client base in terms of its graphic subject, but it might be just a question of making the flow of information more user friendly. It could be that the quality of the data is already there, but it is too overwhelming. You can never afford to lose a customer in unnecessary navigation choices.
  
  
• THE PRESENTATION OF THE NEW SITE’S CONTENT is the backbone of the redesign process. Under content we can put an art image, a texture, a photograph, data, video file or interactive flash presentation. The goal is not to use everything and cluster the space with unnecessary content, but rather design the layout with the intention of communicating the particular message and strengthening the company brand. It is the designer’s goal as well to make the content space as comprehensible and pleasing to the user, so that a relationship is built. The achieved result should be a site that is easily and quickly updated, modified and maintained both with company and professional resources, without losing the integrity of the design and the ease of navigation.

In conclusion, as being the designer for reconstructing an existent web site, it is important to never forget analyzing your own preferences versus the demands of the user and audience targeted. It is more important to understand the expectations and demands of the market, rather than putting forward personal likes.

The redesign should be a combination between the client, their visions, ambitions and goals and the research done to produce a tool, which is an extension to the specific business. It is important to have the experience and confidence to be able to propose a redesign that goes beyond what is asked for, but meets the needs of the company such as to give a strong visual presence combined with intelligent solutions.