3. Design.

Design, as the term is being used here, covers all those stages of a project that are done 'on paper', before any implementation takes place. Although this work needn't literally be done 'on paper', this emphasises that these stages are about thought and exploration of ideas, not about the mechanics of constructing the final site. Of course, designers need to be aware of how ideas will finally be realised during implementation - otherwise their designs might be hopelessly impractical - but this isn't the primary focus at this time. Design covers the following:

1. Concept design. Amplifying the ideas that have come down from the strategy and planning stages. In practice, this means clarifying purpose, audience and objectives - the basic ideas that will drive the design process.
2. Identifying content and analysing it to produce an 'information architecture'. Also, performing complementary analyses to see how the identified audience perceives, or will best understand, that content.
3. Defining site structure, navigation and style, and storyboarding content into that structure. This will provide a high-level 'blueprint' of your site.
4. Defining the technologies in which the various elements of your structure will be implemented, and those via which they will be delivered to your audience.
5. Defining the layout and detailed content of each of the pages of your site.

3.1 Concept Design - Purpose, Audience and Objectives.

Purpose Statement.

The first step in producing an effective website is to define your purpose; this will be a concise statement of what you intend your web to accomplish. In a commercial venture, for example, your company may sell some product. Your initial purpose may be to attract new customers and enable them to purchase that product online. In an educational setting, your purpose may be the more effective transmission of ideas to your students. Although you may redefine your purpose after you have received input from representative users, your statement of purpose will guide you throughout the process of defining your audience, setting your objectives, and creating the content of your site.

On some occasions a 'proof of concept' - a fleshed out scenario of the web site in use - is a valuable part of the development, to both help visualise the purpose of the project as well as use it as an internal selling tool to gain support and understanding for the project.

A purpose statement may be broken down into component parts. Covering each of these points will ensure that you have an effective statement:

• Subject Matter. A statement of the primary subject matter of the web and why it is being communicated to the audience.
• Outcomes, Benefits. A statement of what the expected outcomes are of communicating your material over the web; the benefits for the audience and for author/organisation.
• Motivation. A statement of why the author/organisation is carrying out the development of the web.
• Scope. An indication of the scope of the web development: the coverage, ambitions and limitations.

Develop the outline brief of the assignment into a statement of purpose. This will go directly into the written part of your assignment. The statement of the subject matter should be quite easy; but you will have to be more inventive about outcomes, benefits, motivation and scope. This is the point at which the development of the assignment web becomes definitively yours. You will interpret it in a unique way, and you will be marked on how well you fulfill your own purpose. Try and write about 100-200 words.

Audience Statement.

1. Determine who is likely to be interested in the content you will provide. Think of your audience in terms of general social groups, representative individuals, characteristics and interests that might be used to select people. Make a list of your principal and secondary target audiences in this way. Don't be too restrictive. This initial definition may not survive social research and analysis, but it will do to start with.
2. Determine which of these user groups you are equipped to serve. There may be reasons that you can't cater for everyone that might be interested in your content (e.g. a small e-commerce operation that might have difficulty serving international customers).
3. Of the remaining list, determine which users in your list have access to the web. Also, those which are most likely to use the web for your intended purpose.

When you have gone through this exploration you are ready to firm up your audience definition as a concise statement:

• Audience Definition. Verbal description, cluster diagram (Venn diagram) with boundaries of primary and secondary audiences.
• Audience Characteristics. General: outlook, needs, interests, professional role, etc. Web technology: how does group view, use, etc. the delivery medium? Subject matter: how does group view, use, etc. the subject matter?

Analyse the potential audience for your assignment web site using the guidelines above. You may find it easier to define your audience by certain exclusions, since it is - by the definition of the UK-Online site - for 'the general citizen'. However, you aren't going to be able to produce something for the general citizen that will keep the committed and knowledgeable environmentalist happy, or the trained scientist. When you have thought about these exclusions, write a concise audience statement in the format above. Again, try and write 100-200 words.

On a large-scale project general reflections on your potential audience aren't enough. You are going to have to conduct research - which is why large organisations have market research departments. This market research should result in a clear user/audience profile will help you develop a design strategy that communicates effectively to the people you want your site to reach. This profile should give you information such as the following:

• Determine whether your audience is inside the company, in which case you would probably use an intranet, or outside the company, in which case you would use the internet.
• Identify the category your target group is in (by some recognised social group based on geographical, social or professional characteristics).
• Identify the level of subject expertise within that group as it relates to the intended content of your site.
• Determine the order of their information preferences, or which pieces of information users want first, second, third, and so on (which aspects of your content matter most to the audience, not to you the designer).
• Define audience characteristics such as profession, location, gender, age, or lifestyle preferences when they are relevant.
• Describe scenarios of use, or those situations or circumstances under which the site may be used (take a typical member of the audience and give a convincing narrative of when, where and how they will use your content).
• Describe your users' range of abilities, and account for vision, hearing, mobility, or cognitive impairments.
• Describe your users' environments, and note any environmental challenges such as poor lighting or noise, and any technical challenges such as screen size and number of colors.
• Identify users' level of technical expertise in using a website (their expertise will affect decisions regarding the technical sophistication of the design).
• Determine what hardware and browser software your audience uses.
• Identify what monitors and screen resolutions your audience uses.

You may wish to supplement your outline audience statement with some imagined elements from this profile, especially those towards the end of the list - invent parts of a report from a market research team. This will give you some guidance when designing content, navigation and more technical aspects of your web. For example, if you are going to address disability issues, then you will have to consider guidelines for communicating with users with a visual impairment. You will probably also want to target a small subset of browsers. You will be marked on how well you meet your own chosen audience's needs - and how realistic you are about who 'the general citizen' might be.

Objective Statement.

A statement of objectives is the first stage in the gradual hierarchical decomposition of your purpose statement as the design process unfolds. It is intended to turn a brief statement into a set of precise objectives which can be checked off when the project comes to a close. A project is a success (from the point of view of the design and implementation team) if it meets its objectives - of course, there still remains the small matter of whether those objectives were the right ones for the organisation. Objectives should be couched in quasi-legalistic terms, partly because they may form the basis of a contract with a client, partly because they have to be testable - there shouldn't be any vagueness or ambiguity in them.

Again, it helps to have a set of categories which have to be addressed in an objective statement:

• Subject Matter. Specific communication objectives: a statement of what major themes should be communicated to the audience.
• Benefits for Audience. Specific benefits for the audience which justify the expectation that the web will be successful. This must take into account the context in which the web is likely to be used.
• Benefits for Author/Organisation. Specific benefits for the author or sponsoring organisation. This should take into account the relationship between author/organisation and audience - benefits will be very different in, say, a commercial and an educational setting.
• Resources. Objectives on the use of resources: including effort, time and technology. This lays down the parameters for the practical development effort.
• Performance. The technology on which the finished site will be mounted, the technology with which it can be viewed, how it will perform in use.

These objectives might be separated out into primary ones, those that have to be met, and secondary ones, those that are merely desirable; or they may be fitted into some other priority scheme.

It is desirable for the most important objectives to be measurable. This will allow you to determine, once the site is complete, if it is meeting its objectives. For example, in an e-commerce site you may set an objective of having a 10% increase in sales during the first quarter after publishing your site, or to record a certain amount of "hits" on your site. In an educational site you may have the objective of getting a higher pass rate. Periodically evaluate your site using these goals, and use this evaluation to help you plan improvements.

Set out a preliminary set of objectives for your assignment site. These can only be preliminary because, unlike someone in a commercial situation, you haven't got the context and experience to set clear objectives at this point. However, start with a plausible list and - as your design and implementation proceeds - come back to them and make them more realistic. Use the template above.