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Web Strategy
What It Is & Why We Need to Care
Jason Pamental | @jpamental
Future of Web Design | NYC 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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About me
â´ Jason Pamental Web Strategist, Designer, Technologist
â´ Have worked as strategist, designer,
developer and cat-pixel-wrangler since
roughly the launch of Netscape 1
â´ Can be found @jpamental in most places
â´ Post thoughts, work and pics from
Instagr.am @ thinkinginpencil.com
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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Write this down
â´ What we do as web professionals
is awesome (and I donât mean just cool)
â´ The web has the potential to be the single
most pervasive & transformative
development in the history of business
â´ But only if we learn enough about that
organization to see how it can be applied
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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âI need to hire a web
designerâ
and why this is the worst possible thing to hear from a
potential client
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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âI need to hire a web
designerâ
what they really mean is
because when they say
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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The bad news first
â´ They probably donât know whatâs involved
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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The bad news first
â´ They probably donât know whatâs involved
business analysis discovery
stakeholder interviews
requirements/needs analysis
user research
information architecture
UX IxD
content development
prototyping
visual designHTML/CSS
development
testing
deployment social media integration
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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Hereâs the good news
â´ Theyâre asking you for the solution
â´ Youâre the expert â be one
â´ Communicate. Educate. Illuminate.
â´ An educated, engaged client is always a
better client
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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Web strategy:
a definition
Web strategy is about using knowledge of
your clientâs business & your fresh
perspective to find opportunities that
transform your clientâs business. Itâs
selecting the right technologies to solve
problems & create opportunities by
applying them with great design
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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Web strategy is NOT
content strategy
â´ Itâs broader than that â itâs about
leadership and the growth of our industry
â´ Itâs about seeing the whole picture
â´ Look across silos â within your clientâs
organization and within your own group
â´ Help your client see new possibilities
through your lens of design and technology
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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Head of the tripod
â´ Weâre not just designers or developers
â´ Weâre consultants
(sorry â wasnât supposed to use profanity)
â´ We must understand our clientâs business
& see the things they canât
â´ Use you knowledge of design & intimacy
with technology to truly transform
â´ Donât forget that your client is likely a user too
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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Get out of your silo
â´ Inspiration and innovation come from
looking outward for a better view in
â´ FOWD 2008: Hillman Curtisâ James
Victore movie, Transit maps â look
everywhere & at everything
â´ Look at new ideas in business education
and management (design thinking,
motivation, psychology â see bibliography
on last slide)
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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Why we should care
â´ Happier clients = better
recommendations and more work
â´ Greater opportunities to do great work
â´ Progression in our field leading to greater
acceptance/integration of web design and
technology throughout our clients'/
employers' businesses
â´ (leads to more of points one & two)
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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Dan Mall
â´ Senior Designer at
Big Spaceship
â´ Technical Editor at
A List Apart
â´ Flash guru (sorry, but it fits)
â´ Knows tech backwards &
forwards â a comfy pencil
in his design kit
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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Paul Boag
â´ Been designing/
developing sites since
he had hair
â´ Is near-terminally
curious
â´ Always looks through
the eyes of the client &
the user
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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You(ifyouwanttobe)
â´ You have two sides of
your brain â
engage both
â´ Be curious & act on it
â´ Be a "Mad Scientist" -
experiment, try stuff
â´ Learn about business â
how it works, how to
influence it
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Businesses are like
people, only bigger
but challenges are different for organizations & agencies
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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Corporate/In-house
web teams
â´ Web team usually part of marketing,
corporate communications or IT
â´ Usually very little incentive/interest in
working across those boundaries
(time, cost, executive ego)
â´ Needs to start at the top: CWO & team
should focus on customer while serving all
departments but not reporting to them
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Agencies/Interactive
Design Shops
â´ Too often reactive and not willing/able to look
more closely at clientâs business
â´ Must look behind request to understand the
âwhyâ; study the client to find value we can deliver
based on ideas they couldnât have imagined
â´ Better off with smaller starter project to sort out
the âwhyâ & the âwhatâ â show the value of our
expertise rather than load up a huge budget to
counter what we donât know
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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Project:SailTrade-in
Program
â´ North Sails runs a yearly promotion called
âTrade In/Trade Upâ
â´ Involves direct mail, print ads, invoice
stuffers, online promotion, receiving,
fulfillment and accounting (for the rebates)
â´ Marketing, Sales, IT (data), Accounting
(4 departments, 4 budgets, 4 execs)
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Outcomes
â´ Eliminated dozens of hours of labor every week
â´ Cut Rebate time from 8wks to 2wks or less
â´ Took ~3 days to build
â´ Has been reused for several years w/no
re-coding
â´ All it took was some observation and a few
good questions to discover the pain points
and big opportunities for efficiencies
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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Who are the ideal
candidates?
â´ It's not for beginners, other than in concept
â´ Ideal for those who have been working in the
field for a number of years
â´ More suited to designers/design thinkers with
aptitude for technology & business rather than
the other way around. Creativity harder to
teach than technology
â´ Could be Continuing Ed or Grad level
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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What to teach
â´ Communication â if we canât get our ideas across,
they donât exist
â´ Look at new MBA programs like Rotman - Innovation in
business & design thinking are tremendously relevant to
what we do in the best web projects
â´ Examine/understand how business works: open your
eyes & look across enterprise to see points of
intersection - that's where the opportunities are to use
web technologies to create the greatest, most
innovative solutions
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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Wrap it up
â´ We have to define, embrace and espouse the
role of web strategist â which in turn
â´ Leads to needing classes to help develop those
who seek to fill those roles â which in turn
â´ Creates a culture that recognizes value of
strategy & design in making most out of web
technology on any device/platform in the most
useful, usable ways, both within companies and
with the agencies/shops they hire
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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Thank you!
Itâs been an honor to speak with you
Jason Pamental | @jpamental
Future of Web Design | NYC 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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Hello.
Awesome
Iâm a web professional and I make
web strategy FTW
Been there, done that â buy the t-shirt: http://www.cafepress.com/thinkinginpencil
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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Suggested Reading
â´ The Design of Business (Roger Martin)
â´ Subject to Change (Peter Merholz, Todd Wilkens, Brandon
Schauer, David Verba)
â´ DRiVE (Daniel Pink)
â´ Linchpin (Seth Godin)
â´ The Tipping Point (Malcolm Gladwell)
â´ MTIV (Hillman Curtis)
Wednesday, November 17, 2010