We're building a website

For the rest of the year I will be writing blog posts about the process of building our new website. This is obviously to keep you in the loop though I also hope to develop a sense of the project's opportunities and pitfalls by articulating the whole journey. With these goals in mind, let’s start with the most obvious question.

Why?
For some time, there had been dissatisfaction expressed about our current website both internally and externally (in all fairness the designer built it in 2007). 

Our concerns with the website went far beyond the look or feel. They were about our online strategy and it’s expression in our style and content.

Clearly our strategic goal was to advocate the visitor experience of museums, galleries and keeping places throughout NSW and yet our current website seemed obsessed with our organisation. Even when it was blatantly obvious we should be communicating with you, we seemed to be talking about us to somebody else (I don’t know who). 

We have a dream
We envisioned an easily searchable website representing every museum, gallery and keeping place in NSW to the public. This website would tell the collective stories of volunteer museums, show the programing strength of public galleries and unveil the hidden stories of collections everywhere. Organisations would be able to update information themselves or in partnership with us. 

Original website ideas and concepts for reference committees and potential partners.
Design by Katie Duncan.

And we wouldn’t stop there. There’d be a new, improved sector facing site with accessible resources and online opportunities for collaboration and discussion. 

Simply put, we wanted to make a website that didn’t represent M&G, it was M&G.

Easy, right?

Nope
It’s taken a year from this original impetus to actually procure the design team. During this year, we researched “competitors”, developed a digital strategy with Stuart Buchanan from The Nest and consulted our wise and clear-headed reference committees to explore the project’s risks and opportunities. Late last year we finally procured the services of the Interaction Consortium, Toben and Pure and Applied. 

Adrian Wiggins from Pure and Applied has just completed the user experience and wireframes for our new website: a process that encompasses questions around everything from communication strategies, social media platforms to what exactly you should call the button that takes you to Exhibitions and Events (“Exhibitions and Events” as it turns out).

A few weeks ago, just after Christmas, Adrian drew this picture on our whiteboard:

And in my next post, I’m going to explain exactly what we’ve been doing with Adrian and why this picture is key to everything we’re planning on doing on the website.

P.S. I welcome comments, questions and ideas throughout this process. Also, we're currently looking for someone to be a big part of our online journey. For more information click here.