Comments on: Are We There Yet?

By: jasford

jasford — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

While it sounds like it’s been a long complicated process to get where you are now, you have definitely taken the right approach to make the CMS and design changes independently. So many sites try to make those two changes at the same time which is even more of a nightmare!

I’m also glad to hear your bit about focusing on the “Y” – I’m looking forward to watching as the magazine grows and matures.

By: austingovella

austingovella — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I love the most recent iteration. It looks great! I especially like the weighted category navigation.

And the way Professional Practice breaks the grid is a nice touch.

By: tbrauch

tbrauch — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Love the story. Thanks for sharing the good with the bad. Most companies only try to make themselves look great, so worried about their image. Honesty is a forgotten value and people forget how much people appreciate honesty. Love the new look so far.

By: zephyr779

zephyr779 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I wholehearted agree with Tom. Thanks for an insightful and honest article!

By: thorsteve

thorsteve — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Great, honest look at an often typical redesign project. Funny, though, I’ve never considered a redesign a minor project! Not sure it’s entirely applicable, but remember the overquoted Thomas Edison:

“I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”

(Just hope your budget or sanity do not run out before the end.)

That’s the way I’ve viewed the evolution of human factors and usability since the Web took off in the 90′s. We as practitioners have had the opportunity to learn from our experiences and share them with each other. As a result, consider how far we’ve all come. Do you remember the proliferation of truly horrendous designs during the Wild West Web Days in the mid to late 90′s?

By: rahelab

rahelab — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

It takes a a lot of courage to bare your mistakes, particularly when admission live on forever in a blog post somewhere. Your candor is commendable – we can all learn from this, and use your experience as a resource for some of our own clients who might otherwise hold out for what they think is a cheap-and-easy solution. Here’s to being human!

By: xian

xian — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Good story. Can’t wait to see the new design in action.

A little feedback on publicsquare: The urls it makes could use work. maybe the slug should be editable? also, google and some other search engines don’t recognize underscores as word breaks, so that can harm findability. (Hyphens do work.)

By: georgivar

georgivar — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I think I said it when design competition results came out but I’ll say it again:

If it works, don’t fix it.

The first design of B&A was appropriate and pleasing. And it was working. So please, just publish more of the good stories we are used to find here and don’t bother with the visuals.

By: livlab

livlab — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Seeing that the mission statement helped so much to get through the bumpy re-design road, and that that there are clear plans for the future (wanting to make it self-sustaining), are you taking it to the next level and writing a business plan?

On that note, what kind of immediate help is needed? I’ve been reading B&A from day one and have wanted to collaborate, but I know writing and helping editorial is not how I’ll do that. What else do you need? Or better, what do you need the most?

By: jbellis

jbellis — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Christina,
Great info, thanks. I’ve been enjoying B&A for years now. Just wanted to share a few thoughts.

Instead of “We welcome you to help us as we grown, …” did you really mean “groan?” (I know, you meant “grow.”)

A key theme to me centers around your statement: “Collaborative iteration is the secret…” I’ll continue the Edison line of thought, but with a slightly different slant. I’m also a fan of an IXDA-er’s signature quote… “Design is a process – an intimate collaboration between engineers, designers, and clients.” – Dreyfuss, Industrial Designer. Somehow we cling to this notion that there is a holy grail process. Only if you consider 7 rounds of trial and correction a “process” is there a process for something as intricate as today’s software design challenge. I recently heard someone say in a Philly presentation “All processes are essentially broken.” To me the limiting factor isn’t adherence to some sort of procedural map so much as a pre-arranged willingness to make changes until we get it right.