Redesigning BNL.gov

A full review of the project to redesign the web presence of Brookhaven National Laboratory, from the development of a content strategy to user interface design to project communication.

Transcript

1. Redesigning BNL.GOV A Journey in Five Acts @gary_schroeder (or How We Blew Up the Death Star)
2. Hi. I’m Gary Schroeder @gary_schroeder
3. Redesigning a website is a big, hairy deal that involves extreme challenges, risks, adventures and intense battles
4. Obviously, it’s just like
6. Call to Adventure Our web team was trapped on Tatooine, stuck on a moisture farm with no hope of ever getting into the Academy, a complete life of unfulfilled boredom UNLESS…
7. OMG, we’re going on a REDESIGN ADVENTURE
10. So, what was wrong with BNL.GOV?
11. EVERYTHING
12. BORING Long passages of text that no one would ever read www.shorpy.com/node/15673
13. OUTDATED Last major update was NINE YEARS ago
14. MISSION? Can anybody tell if we even have a ‘Some kinda scienc-ey stuff?’
15. ORG CHART Death by No one gives a rip about internal fiefdoms
16. AMATEURS We looked like (Amateurs have no credibility)
17. APATHY
18. Redesigning a website is a big, hairy deal that involves extreme challenges, risks, adventures and intense battles
19. CONTENT STRATEGY Since we don’t have one, let’s start with a
20. Content strategy plans for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content. Kristina Halvorson www.flickr.com/photos/45923218@N00/4835160197
21. Publishing Criteria Why are you publishing this? Info Architecture Is it logically arranged, findable? Content Strategy Messages What do you want them to know? ID Audiences Who are you trying to reach? (And why?) Work Flow Routine process for scheduling, producing, publishing Measure success (or lack of it) Metrics
22. The content strategist defines not only which content will be published, but why it’s being published in the first place. Without a strategy, we’re just running a production line for content that nobody needs or wants. www.shorpy.com/node/15585
24. A Mentor Journey begins following contact with sages or wizards who give guidance
26. Between regular baseline work and a relentless stream of unscheduled work requests, our available resources are fully subscribed. We have insufficient reserve capacity to sustain a project that requires the long-term focus that a full content overhaul requires. (Actual quote!)
27. Erin Kissane Author of ‘The Elements of Content Strategy’ www.flickr.com/photos/webstock06/6885493653/
28. CORE TEAM
29. CS DELIVERABLES Accessibility Guides Publishing Workflow Benchmarks Qualitative Content Audit Channel Strategies Quantitative Content Audit Competitive Analyses Resource Review Content Style Guide SEO Review Content Templates Success Metrics Editorial Calendars User Persona Example Content User Research Plans Feature Descriptions User Scenarios Gap Analyses Workflow Recommendations
30. COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
32. AUDIT Oh boy! It’s time for a content
33. TOTAL DRAG
34. STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEWS
35. Our home page is a blizzard. There’s too much information right away. www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/2551851700
36. Our website should facilitate a two-way conversation with industry. www.flickr.com/photos/anmm_thecommons/8533281990
37. Our site lacks a compelling vision. What’s our version of ‘we helped put a man on the moon’? www.flickr.com/photos/bergen_public_library/5427117205
38. Potential recruits are our most important audience. http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/2552861639
39. The website needs to work better for elected officials, high-level industry reps and community members. www.flickr.com/photos/floridamemory/9031464131
40. Audiences Dept. of Energy Current employees Elected officials (staffers) Students Community members Journalists/Media Science-interested public Facility Users Potential employees Potential facility users
42. Top Tasks Find contact information Learn how to apply for a job Evaluate programs or facilities Find relevant research news Understand what BNL does Learn how to become a facility user See available jobs See what BNL offers industry
43. Recommended Site Structure
46. Content Templates 0. Home Page 1.0 Landing Page 1.1 Sub Page
47. Template 1.0: ‘Our Science’ Landing Page Intro to BNL’s work Brookhaven’s scientific breakthroughs ensure a successful energy future for our nation. We research: 1. nuclear and particle physics, to understand more about matter, energy, space, and time; 2. photon sciences and nanomaterials, to research new kinds of energy production; and 3. the relationship between climate change, sustainable energy, and the Earth’s ecosystems. Themes Energy Security: We collaborate with industry and academic partners to reduce the carbon footprint of our economy through efficiency and renewable fuels. Light as a Discovery Tool: Our light sources work as powerful microscopes to help researchers find solutions to the grand energy challenges facing the US. Etc. … Our Science Science Powering Industry Short blurb, link to case study, small image. About BNL Brookhaven carries out critical energy research at the frontier of science and operates world-leading research facilities on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy.
48. Success Metrics Unique visits Subscriber volume Number of shares What number indicates ‘success’? Time on site Is a high number or a low number good? High number might mean they couldn’t find desired content. Low number might mean they didn’t stop to read content. www.flickr.com/photos/60527064@N00/3538962602
49. What We Had at end of CS consult • Who we were trying to reach • What we wanted to tell them • What we thought they wanted to do (top tasks) • Suggestions for how to arrange content in a way that would be easy for them to find it • List of content to dump b/c it had no WHY • Where the content gaps were and what had to be written to better explain the Lab’s mission, capabilities, national value and achievements • The attention of management and our own writing staff
51. Frustration Far from reaching the goal because there’s a series of obstacles
52. USER INTERFACE Uh oh, we need a new
59. Many of BNL CMS functions write out database records in "slats" format, where each record is returned as a unique <li> where <ul class="slats">.
60. BNL.GOV/COMMON
61. HOME PAGE The Big Bone of Contention, the www.flickr.com/photos/38611695@N00/2210578063/
62. Home Page Content Priorities
63. START SKETCHING
67. RESPONSIVE Yup, it’s
68. NEW CONTENT Time to write www.shorpy.com/node/15322
69. CORE TEAM
70. NO PROJECTS WITHOUT MILESTONES
73. Template 1.0: ‘Our Science’ Landing Page Intro to BNL’s work Brookhaven’s scientific breakthroughs ensure a successful energy future for our nation. We research: 1. nuclear and particle physics, to understand more about matter, energy, space, and time; 2. photon sciences and nanomaterials, to research new kinds of energy production; and 3. the relationship between climate change, sustainable energy, and the Earth’s ecosystems. Themes Energy Security: We collaborate with industry and academic partners to reduce the carbon footprint of our economy through efficiency and renewable fuels. Light as a Discovery Tool: Our light sources work as powerful microscopes to help researchers find solutions to the grand energy challenges facing the US. Etc. … Our Science Science Powering Industry Short blurb, link to case study, small image. About BNL Brookhaven carries out critical energy research at the frontier of science and operates world-leading research facilities on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy.
74. ‘RIGOROUSLY FRIENDLY’ www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/8755526695
75. Document Control
79. The Final Ordeal Culminating in a great battle
80. Communications ALD Stakeholder Relations Chief Information Officer Deputy Director for Ops Management Council PRESENTATIONS
81. THE DIRECTOR In which we present to
83. I applaud your motivation and expect that the results will be fantastic. However, I was shocked earlier this month when CERN rolled out their new web pages. Perhaps it was the way I used the old web pages, but it is much harder to find the links which were trivially available on the old CERN site.
85. Goal Achieved After a thrilling escape from death, the goal is finally won and order is restored
89. PARTY TIME
90. I had friends on that Death Star…
91. PUT THE PHONE BOOK LINK BACK ON THE FRONT PAGE!!!!! billyhunt.smugmug.com/Projects/Screamotron3000
92. billyhunt.smugmug.com/Projects/Screamotron3000 Where is the phone directory? It used to be right on the home page.
93. billyhunt.smugmug.com/Projects/Screamotron3000 You changed the way to look up phone numbers. The old way was much simpler. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
94. billyhunt.smugmug.com/Projects/Screamotron3000 The menu bar at the top is way too small !
95. billyhunt.smugmug.com/Projects/Screamotron3000 I have large margins of dead space on the left and right sides that I don’t recall seeing before.
96. billyhunt.smugmug.com/Projects/Screamotron3000 I know it’s job security for you folks to revise web pages, but this revision was not only unnecessary, it was in the retrograde direction.
97. NO, THERE IS ANOTHER ‘That redesign was our last one.’