Week3 OC Boecker - Web Creation for Product - Brief

The Dresden Doll Company has been in existence for over 50 years.  During this time, their brand has remained as one of the top doll manufacturers in the United States with some recognition overseas as well.  The company crafts each doll by hand, from the body made of porcelain, to the dolls clothes, and the hand dyed lambs wool for the hair.  They are known for meticulous details around the face and eyes and never disappoint.   Recently the decision was made to craft and sell dolls that are modeled after an actual child.  This presented problems with the already out dated web site. 

The goal for the re-design of the company's web site to update it with more recent technologies such as flash and java.   In addition, the client would like to update the shopping cart feature.  This was last done 6 years ago and the company has out grown the features the current shopping cart provides.  The colors on the web site are currently rather dull.  The customer does not want a site that looks like a rainbow, but would like more saturation in the current color scheme.  There is no branding involved, the current logo for the company is its "bread and butter".   To be able to accept customized orders, the company will need the ability to upload jpeg images and associate them with specific orders.  Due to this new requirement, an entire re-work of the systems navigation may be necessary.  Some of the basic information on the "about us" page will remain the same.  Other pages such as product pages, help pages, and the home page will need to be completely re-worked due the new offering.

The primary audience is mainly mothers, grandmothers, and young girls between the ages of 7 and 12.  The age range of the mothers is from 25 to 65 with a mean income of $65K per year.  The age range of the grandmothers is from 60 on up with a mean income of $35K per year. 

The re-design will be primarily product focused along with the new shopping cart capabilities.  The overall feel of the website should be endearing and sweet.  Use of the same color pallet is acceptable with the requirement of
increasing saturation and possibly adding complimentary colors.

The measure of success should include increased web traffic via a higher search engine rating and also an increase in overall sales.  The website should have been performance than the current site and be updated to use current website creation technologies.

Week3 IC Boecker - Web Creation for Product

Product is Dolls

Target Market
Sex: Female
Age: 25 to 65
Children: Y
Education: Some
Income: 30K to 75K

Resolution: 800x600
Web browser: IE, Firefox, Safari
Device: broad band, dial up, wireless
System: PC or Mac

User Profile 1
Name: Jane Conners
Sex: Female
Age: 35
Children: Y
Education:4 yrs college
Income: 75K/year

 

Jane is a working mother of two young children, one boy the age of 7 and one girl the age of 4.  She typically starts her day at 6:00 a.m. in the morning that consists of dressing and feeding herself and the kids.  By 8:30 am she has dropped off the children at their appropriate places and has settled into her work day.  Jane's work day ends around 5:30 p.m. and she usually has the children picked up and at home by 6:15.  Next it is time to prepare dinner while dad gets the kids bathed and in their pajamas.  Jane's weekends are full with play dates, soccer games, birthday parties, and sometimes date night.

With all of hustle and bustle during the week and the weekend, there is not much time left for shopping for her daughter's upcoming birthday.  Jane will resort to using the web to find the perfect new doll for her daughter in the appropriate price range.  The site must be easy to use, clearly state return policies, allow the use of credit cards, and provide excellent visual images of the doll she is to purchase. 

User Profile 2

Name: Nancy Ortega

Sex: Female

Age: 60

Children: Y

Education: high school

Income: 35K/year

Nancy is a retired grandmother of three grandchildren: two granddaughters and one grandson.  Her day typically consists of an early morning walk, a simple breakfast, and then a trip to either the retirement home or her neighborhood elementary school to volunteer.  Some days her errands may include a stop at the grocery store, the dry cleaners, and possibly the gas station.  In addition to the above, Nancy also watches her grandchildren after school and sometimes on the weekends when the parents want a date night out.  

Nancy's  grandchildren are web savvy and have been educating Nancy on how to use the world wide web on her new lap top.  The girls in particular have been showing her web sites related to toys.  Their favorite web sites include products such as tea sets, dolls, and play kitchens.    With this new knowledge, Nancy has decided to order her granddaughter a doll on line for her up coming birthday from the web site her granddaughter showed her yesterday.  Nance is new to this, so the web site must be easy to use, use credit cards, explicitly state shipping requirements and return policies, and show great images of the dolls that can be ordered. 

Wk2- Laurie Boecker-OC-Redesign Brief

 La Margarita has been serving Mexican food in the Round Rock/Central Texas area for around 20 years. The organization prides itself on serving some of the best in food and service for Round Rock and surrounding areas.The restaurant La Margarita is a nice, upscale neighborhood Mexican food restaurant.

The goal for the web re-design for La Margarita Mexican Food restaurant is to improve the somewhat simplistic and unprofessional appearance of the current website to equal the physical establishment's appearance and ambiance.  The web site user should feel the same experience of  great food, service, and atmosphere.  The current website address is: http://www.lamargarita.us/index.html.   The current issue is that the website appears flat and out of date.  It does provide the basic information that a user may want to know, but it in no way portrays the actual look and feel of the physical restaurant.  There is no re-branding involved, the look and feel of the current pages will be updated.  Current navigation of the website is acceptable, but any improvements would be a welcomed addition.  Technical upgrades are a must.  Possibly adding flash or similar technology to improve the appearance and user experience is a requirement.

The primary audience is varied in nature.   It ranges from the family of 4, to the single parent, to the group of college kid, all  looking for a great meal at a great value.  The age range is from 18 to 60, income of $25 to $100K per year, all races, and all school levels.

The redesign focus should be the overall tone of the web site.  It should be one of a casual relaxed atmosphere and convey that through bright and colorful colors and easy navigation.  The colors of a traditional Mexican fiesta should be considered at a pallet.

The measures of success should include increased web traffic via a higher search engine rating, an increase in website traffic, better website performance, and ensuring that all types of browser options can use the website.  There should be the use of flash or similar technologies to improve/update the look and feel of the website.

Wk2- Laurie Boecker-IC-Redesign

Target Market
Sex: M or F
Age: 18 to 60
Children: any number
Race: W, H, AA
Education: High School
Income: 20 to 100K
Local: Neighborhood

Resolution: 800x1600
Web browser: IE, Firefox, Safari
Device: dial up, cable, DSL, mobile


User Profile1
Name: Kelly Jones
Inc.: 85K/yr
Education: College
Sex: F
Married: Y
Occupation: Project Mgr.
Geography: Round Rock

Kelly Jones

Kelly is a busy professional who also happens to be a mom and wife.  Her day typically starts at 6:00 am with dressing her kids and herself, serving breakfast, and getting everyone to their required destinations.  Her work day is typically 8 to 5, with a break for lunch.  Lunch is usually had off campus at a local restaurant that is inexpensive. After work day is complete, Kelly shuttles the kids to soccer practice and dance class.   On most occasions, dinner is served at home around 6:30 in the evening.  There are times, however, that Kelly does not feel like cooking dinner and would like to take the family out for dinner.  The restaurant of choice has to be local, inexpensive, clean, and reasonably fast.  It should have a children's menu and great prices on margaritas and beer is a plus!  After dinner, Kelly takes her family home to complete home work and bath for bed time.


User Profile 2:
Name: Doug Smith
Income: 15K year
Education: Some College
Occupation: Student
Sex: M or F
Children: No
Married: No

Doug is a college student, who like most, is always looking for a good deal.  His typical day starts early with a simple breakfast of cereal or toast and then off to school for 8:00 am class.  Most days, his classes are over by 6:00 pm.  Doug is a straight A student who spends a lot of time on campus participating in study groups.  Some times a study group likes to take dinner breaks together and are in need of a cheap but satisfying meal.  The place of choice is usually close by in the neighborhood and not exotic: Mexican food, pizza, hamburgers, and the like are the usual choices of food.  The students usually want it to be fast and an establishment selling beer is a plus.  After dinner, the students usually retire back to campus or some one's apartment for further studying into the night.  The next few days are the same and the students are known to frequent the same establishments more than one in a week.

Week2-Laurie Boecker-HW-Article Summary

The first paragraph (Dear Print Designer Doing Web Design, Ford Interactive) was very concise and easy to read.  I did not feel like I had to had a degree in web or print design in order to follow what the author had to offer.  Most of what he had to say was common sense, but if you had not had them pointed out to you as a print designer, they may not have been very obvious.  The key take aways for me were: vertical pixel and vertical grid limitations and limitations using Photoshop's faux bold and/or faux italics. 



The second paragraph (Print design vs. web design by Grantastic Desgins) offered similar but yet some distinct information.  The information on whether to use a GIF or JPEG format was very helpful and makes perfect sense.  The simple graphics with simple colors are best done as GIFs and photographic images or complex graphics are best done as JPEGs.  I also found the recommendation to view your web site design via different monitors and under different conditions to help ensure it looks the way it should in all cases.

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