iterative design/going round in circles
I've been redesigning my blog for a while now and one thing in particular struck me as quite remarkable. Since I first launched this blog a year ago a lot of things had changed. In that measly year many additions and tweaks were made to the original blog. Many of them too small to notice, some of them with a bigger impact (like the preview button on the comment form). While this was a natural evolution, I ran into a little article that explained why it was in fact not so natural at all.
my everyday work life
All things considered, I should have realized this method of working wasn't a very natural approach (yet). At work, I often play with designs that get implemented and that I see very little of the next couple of months, even years. Websites are often launched with a big bang, contrasting heavily with the outdated versions made several years earlier. Websites seem to evolve in big steps and heavy launches, rather than small updates and welcome weekly tweaks.
There are a few projects that require us to update the site on a regular basis, but they are by all means exceptions to the rule. It never struck me as strange before, but in fact it is a very unnatural way to approach a project.
iterative design
I am hardly the first to mention this, but the launch of a website should really be the beginning, not the end. Once a new site is live, statistics can be gathered, user polls can be held and improvements can be made. And at regular intervals. No site is perfect when launched, the internet is ever changing, so why do we often cling to sites that are old and out of date?
This holds true for all levels of web design. The visual design itself can be tweaked and upgraded in little steps, information architecture can be adapted and of course the content itself should be kept up to date. This has the added benefit that users can quickly adapt to these small changes, rather than be thrown into the depths with every new overhaul (which usually creates a whole new site experience).
Working like this is called iterative design and even though this will appear to be a pretty natural method of working (especially for people maintaining their own site), it is actually a big hurdle for large sites and companies, who seems very much set on big launches and major overhauls.
thinking in circles
It might take some time before people will start adapting to this way of working, but no effort should be spared in speeding things up a little. Next time you take on a new project, try to ready your clients for a more iterative approach and think of a plan that extends the period after the launch of the site. It will benefit your site and your visitors and you'll be surprised how big a difference can be made by adding small tweaks on a regular basis.
I've always done "iterative design"; generally, because things occur to me rather slowly or heuristically :p Still, I don't know how to get clients to pay for this: SEO is one way, rolling in content development; adding features is another if the process is sufficiently modularised; improving appearance and or usability, with better CSS, sometimes through re-thinking page layout/flow, is harder to "justify/sell" though a lot of my updating time goes there. But to say, honestly enough, "it's an ongoing process, of trial and error"--that can sound expensive, at the least, to the client...
Practically, iteration makes every sense...but it's a question or problem of experience, no? Conventionally, experience is worthwhile or fruitful only if it's 'in the past' (you are already an experienced developer); clients don't expect to have to pay for it over and over again...Of course, experience really means, the ability to keep seeing what's lacking in what's there and search for new or better solutions.
All in all, iteration, a circle hermeneutic or tautologous, is easiest to accomplish with one's own projects!
The first 3 redesigns of our own site were full re-designs, but after that we got to a point where we were happy with the general look and the HTML was pretty lean, so at that point we went into just adding features to what already existed.
I think that's a good route and wish clients would do the same, but they almost never come to us with feature requests, most sites we make go untouched until the client wants a re-design...
brent @ mimoYmima.com
Approaches like these have been around for a long time, recently agile has been in vogue but in previous incarnations we have had rapid application design (RAD) and the formalised DSDM (Dynamic Systems Development Method). They have failed to take off primarily because clients see them as increasing their risk in time and expense. For the same reason, the vast majority of web design projects are fixed price rather than time and materials. In other words it is a cultural shift that hasn't really happened (that isn't to say that it won't, just that in the last ten years I have seen very little takeup of these methods). When I was working with DSDM in non-web applications, the most successful projects were the ones where the client had really bought in to the culture and method of working, the main facet of which was a very strong, close, warts-and-all working relationship. The reverse side of the coin (to stretch the circle analogy) is that there are risks associated in not using iterative design, as indeed there are risks with paying a fixed price for a project (what happens if the developer finishes three weeks ahead of schedule, am I going to be 100% happy?).
I think Richard has identified a vital part of implementing an iterative process after site launch, namely building "a very strong, close, warts-and-all working relationship" with clients.
I impress upon my clients the importance of seeing a website launch as the beginning of a new phase of their web presence. Exactly as you say, Niels, it's about monitoring whether the site is achieving its objectives and continuing to use all emerging development technologies and design principles to do so.
The key is in that relationship. You have to put the website into context for the client, which can be quite different for a commercial site or a personal site, for instance. If I build an understanding in my clients of what their website can grow to do over time, they are generally very open to continuing the development and design process over time.
In my case, that's the core of my business - getting clients as excited about what their site can do in the near future (always 'near future', as most people can see that web technology and opportunities develop so rapidly) as what it can do at launch.
In talking with other designers and developers about this, I'd say the main issue is that they lack the client relationship skills to make this happen, or the business and marketing skills to sell themselves as an ongoing resource to long term clients.
I see more web design companies and agencies hiring business development managers to make this happen, but I personally think you can't beat combining business sense with art and technology in the one person. To me, that's the beauty of being a web designer.
Myeah, getting clients along is not that easy, though that is partly our responsibility too.
Richard: I know it's been around for a while in several different incarnations. Agile is pretty hot right now though I think "agile" is more centered around actual development for achieving one goal, while iterative design is about creating a continuous flow of your site. Pretty much the same idea, but applied in a slightly different field :)
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