Accessibility techniques

Server-side languages

Updates to content management systems

Groundbreaking books on web design, like this one

9

OVERVIEW

Whatever the case, it is critical to ensure that the planned redesign addresses the current

website’s shortcomings. These could come in many forms.

Internal pressure 1

Internal pressure is probably the most common driver of website redesigns. In a company

of any substantial size, there is a network of people who influence the web presence, from

the CEO and director of marketing at the top, down to the creative director, production-

level web designers, and content creators. All of them have good ideas, and all of them

want to be heard. Within that collective of influencers, the business probably has one key

figure that pulls the trigger on any major website decisions, and they spend a good part of

their tenure bracing against a constant gale of suggestions. It’s inevitable that one of these

suggestions will be the catalyst for a redesign.

Many changes will be visually driven. One of the penalties of operating in a globalized

economy is the pressure to constantly cycle through creative ideas, to stay fresh with

branding and reinvent the look and feel of your business in order to remain relevant.

Sometimes these changes are subtle (maybe a new tagline or an expanded media initia-

tive), and sometimes the changes are huge (massive branding campaigns, a logo redesign,

or a new set of core messages). It’s the designer’s job to make sure those changes are

reflected in the corporate website.

New products or services can also be the genesis for redesigning the website. This is espe-

cially relevant to smaller businesses, although larger companies have been known to up-

heave their web presence in order to back a new product.

Shiny new technology

There is a certain level of nerdiness all web designers possess. In order to succeed in the

industry, it is their responsibility to have their finger on the pulse of the development

world, and to forecast the influence of new technologies before they render their current