The Sausage Makers: A behind-the-scenes look at the Portland Music Foundation site redesign
Monday, October 25th, 2010Part One in the Series: The Sausage Makers: Remaking the site of the Portland Music Foundation
They say that making laws is like making sausages: you don’t want to know how it’s done, you just want to know that what you get at the end tastes good.
For a long time now I’ve thought that that notion doesn’t apply to Web sites. I think there are lots of folks out there who want to know how a good Web site comes together. And making sure a site’s built right is essential; the best online marketing plan won’t work if your site isn’t effective and easy for both customers and administrators to use.
With that in mind, today I present The Sausage Makers – an inside look at how a real live Web site comes together here at Pemaquid Communications. We’ll talk about our things like Content Strategy, Information Architecture, Content Management, Design Concept Development, e-commerce and Search Engine Optimization as well as some of the techniques we employ in Interface Production (“front-end” coding) and Development (“back-end” coding).
We’ll also be talking about our user-centered philosophy and coding sites to be accessible to the visually/physically impaired.
And we’re going to do things completely out in the open.
If all that doesn’t sound sexy to you, you’ll be glad to know that we’ve found the perfect Client to make things interesting: The Portland Music Foundation. The PMF is dedicated to developing the music scene in Portland, Maine. They provide workshops and resources to musicians (as the bass player in Bluezberry Jam, I’ve availed myself of their very worthwhile services) and work to forge a musical identity for the area. It’s an innovative venture modeled after a similar organization in Austin, Texas – and we all know what amazing music comes out of that town!
PMF President Pat May has agreed to let people view the site development as it unfolds. We’ll be making a link to our development site available so you’ll have a backstage pass for all the festivities.
We thought it would be apropos to team up with graphic designer – and rocker – Walter Craven, front man of Lost On Liftoff, who will be working up the look of the new site. If you didn’t know it already, Walt does beautiful work, most recently as a designer with Accel Golf. He last teamed up with us at Pemaquid to create the look and feel for local club The Big Easy, a site that was nominated for a techMaine Best of the Web award a few years back. When we approached PMF with the idea for this project, and let them know we were working with Walt… well, that sealed the deal.
So get ready to strap on your hardhat and feel free to move about the job site as we nail the boards together. And keep your dial tuned to Pemaquid Crunch for updates on the design and development process.
