In the construction world carpenters who specialize in remodeling earn considerably more than those who build homes from scratch. If you know how to use a plumb bob, a square and a level you should be able to build a decent new home. Remodelers on the other hand have much broader set of challenges requiring a more comprehensive toolset in order to maintain aesthetics and work around existing infrastructure.
Many of these lessons can be transferred to content strategy and interactive solutions. If you want a new website and have never had one, you also don’t have legacy systems to untangle, databases to rejoin, layers of stakeholders to appease and vector versions of your logo to track down. In short you have a blank slate. While I am not advocating starting from scratch for many reasons including — SEO ranking, branding and resource allocation for starters — It is imperative to understand that working with an existing site presents both unique challenges and opportunities that require deeper digging. Dig deep my friends, dig deep.
—Ian
June 22nd, 2010 at 9:10 pm
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July 14th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Great post! I am teaching myself about IA and content strategy now through volutneering and working with mentors. I’m learning more and more every day about the challenges one faces when tasked with redesigning ane existing site. I would love to hear more from you about the different challenges and opportunities you mentioned here – legacy systems to untangle, databases to rejoin, layers of stakeholders to appease and vector versions of your logo to track down – and how you work through them.
Thanks!