The big website redesign problem

An interesting piece by Paul Boag on the whole flawed website design cycle in higher education, and probably the public sector as a whole.

Paul pretty much hits the nail on the head with how things usually go.

Normally things work something like this…

1. The website owner becomes unhappy with his site and decides things need to change.
2. He concludes the site needs redesigning and so writes a brief before asks web agencies to pitch for the work.
3. The agencies respond and one is selected for a expensive redesign of the site.
4. The agency throws out the old site and builds a new one.
5. The website owner pays the web agency and they go their separate ways.
6. Slowly the site decays as the business changes and new features/content is added.
7. Sometime later the website owner becomes dissatisfied again and the process repeats.

He then goes on to discuss alternatives to this incredibly costly and wasteful approach.

If you manage a website, or are working for someone who is insisting it's time to rip it all up and start again, this article is worth a read.

No plans to redesign your site? Now is the time to hire a web design agency - article by Paul Boag