Sensible Land Use Coalition
The Sensible Land Use Coalition (SLUC) is an association of real estate development professionals in the Twin Cities that meets to facilitate discussion and knowledge transfer on issues affecting work in the regional market. Membership is drawn from both the private and public sectors. SLUC hired Blinc to help the organization develop its brand, establish a unified graphic identity, and redesign its website.
The site has been since been redesigned.
Responsibilities
- Create information design and site architecture.
- Design navigation scheme.
- Consult with graphic designer site-wide visual design.
- Coordinate with the provider of web content management services to assure the effective implementation of design.
- Work with client to help tie the website into it's monthly events and fund-raising activities.
- Manage project deadlines and deliverables.
- Advise client on creating new written content.
- Set up site visual design in web content management system.
- Reclassify content on existing content management tool to allow it to be delivered effectively through the new design.
- Train SLUC staff on the best way to maintain redesigned site in the content management system.
Considerations
SLUC's primary activities revolve around their monthly meeting which features a presentation and discussion of an issue of interest to their members. The client wanted information on the upcoming event to dominate the home page and encourage membership to use the site's online sign-up functionality to preregister for the program. These requirements dominated the discussion of site information design.
The client's previous site had been hosted by a Texas-based company specializing in serving non-profit membership organizations. We examined similar service providers and recommended they stay with their current vendor primarily because the SLUC staff was very comfortable with the interface and would not have to learn a new tool. In addition, SLUC's membership records and program registration system was set up based on their current content management system and changing to a new service provider would have required them to rethink the way they handled membership data.
The SLUC platform provided modules (forums, email, online polling) they were not using on their old site. I assessed the services and discussed the possiblity of integrating them into the new site with leadership and staff. The new site is built with templates that will allow SLUC to add these modules on an as-needed basis.
I created a customized content management guide to help SLUC staff maintain the site's visual consistency and held a training session with the staffer managing the site to help her understand how to preserve the site's new look. It appears that despite our best efforts, SLUC is having trouble consistently maintaining the site's content. This points up the difficulty some content authors can have preserving a site's design without regular guidance and oversight.
SLUC has deployed a redesigned website since I worked with them.
Documentation
- Site map (PDF)
A overall site map developed for the redesigned site.
