ELGL’s web redesign process continues! We met last week with Sarah and Jen for a detailed two-hour meeting where we talked about the awesome survey data we received from our members, our goals for ELGL.org, and next steps going forward.
Sarah and Jen are great listeners, which is probably the top skill you should look for in web designers (and most positions, probably). They came to the meeting with a real understanding of what the ELGL site is used for, and some comparable sites and designs they like (we were united in our love of fivethirtyeight.com).
They gave me some meaty assignments (most notably – cleaning up the myriad categories we’re prone to assigning in ELGL) and they promised to get back to me with a “wireframe.” This is just a very basic overview of the site’s fuctionality – where menus and content will be. Sarah explained that with a site as content-heavy as ELGL.org, she wants to highlight and showcase the content, making it easy to find and access, even if it’s a few hours (or days, or months…) old.
I’ve sent the wireframe out to the ELGL advisory team to review and comment on, and then we’ll be back in touch with Sarah as she begins to sketch out the actual design and start the transfer process. We also talked for a while about making sure that when members register, we capture information about your (your organization; your region of the country) so we can best tailor our news and information for you. I’m super excited about this aspect, so as our regional chapters grow, we can immediately connect our members with someone close by. It’s just part of our overall mission to connect, communicate and educate!