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UM-SSW Site Redesign

During 2003+2004, I managed the comprehensive web redesign for the University of Michigan School of Social Work, currently ranked number one in its field. The site contains over 2000 pages of static, dynamic, and multimedia content, focused on recruitment, teaching, and research dissemination. The project encompassed all of the stages of site planning and design, including requirements analysis, information architecture, creative discovery+design, production, and transition planning.

Goals: The primary goal was to enhance the school's online presence by updating the web site's look+feel, improving access to the site's content, and addressing usability problems. The secondary goal was to improve maintainability and extensibility by replacing the site's underlying code structure and outgrown architecture.

Challenges: The primary challenge was transitioning content to the new site without disrupting the coherence of the old site. Other challenges included working with content stakeholders and juggling the redesign with other responsibilities.

Role: In addition to managing the project, I performed the majority of the hands-on work involved in the redesign. This included requirements analysis, redesign of the information architecture, creative discovery, writing some copy, developing site admin code and databases, creating page templates, and converting large sections of content.

Outcome: I accomplished the UM-SSW redesign was largely within the existing web budget. Site statistics, faculty + staff reaction, and anecdotes indicate success of the redesign.