[Sigia-l] Avoiding alienating existing users upon redesign

[Samantha Bailey]

PS-I've read the articles as well, but personally I prefer the major
redesign if there are enough issues to warrant it. And the reality is that a
web site that has been growing organically, particularly in a distributed
environment, is likely to be something of a mess after a few years, even if
there's a great team with a solid vision. Entropy is a powerful force.

It's great to be continually improving the site, but when there are
significant structural issues you often wind up putting on band-aids when
you approach the redesign in a piecemeal fashion. Major redesigns are
painful (for the design team and to some degree for users) but they can also
produce significant improvements that can't necessarily be achieved any
other way.

 Also, doing the redesign as a major effort helps the team really focus and
arguable leads to a more cohesive finished product because the design
approach can be more unified.

Samantha Bailey
samantha at baileysorts.com | http://baileysorts.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeff Lash" <jeff at jefflash.com>
To: "SIGIA" <sigia-l at asis.org>
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2004 8:54 PM
Subject: [Sigia-l] Avoiding alienating existing users upon redesign


> How can a site implement a significant redesign without alienating
existing
> users?
>
> A large subscription-based site has a significant number of users, many of
> whom have been paying customers for several years without any major design
> changes. Though the site is successful, there are several significant
> usability issues that need to be addressed, as well as changes from the
> business perspective. How can we successfully improve the site and expand
> our user base while keeping our current users (who are notoriously fickle
> about even the smallest of changes)?
>
> I'm aware of the arguments against a major relaunch
> --> http://www.uie.com/Articles/quiet_death_of_relaunch.htm
> and will certainly make the case for that, but assuming there is going to
be
> a major re-launch, how can it be done?
>
> I would especially appreciate any publicly-available articles, case
studies,
> or similar materials that deal with this issue, so that I may pass them on
> to others working on the project. Specifically, if there is a list of what
> things can be done
> - before the redesign
> - during the redesign
> - after the redesign
> to make the impact as minimal as possible, that would be excellent.
(Things
> like beta testing to a random sample, announcements that a change is
coming,
> new-site tour, etc...)
>
> Good resources I've already found:
> --> http://tinyurl.com/34bvj (Computerworld.com article)
> -->
http://www.ezrc.hud.gov/library/bookshelf15/redesigningexistingsite.cfm
>
> Any others?
>
> Thanks,
> Jeff
> --
> http://jefflash.com
>
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