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

I missed my second SVA Dot.Dot.Dot lecture in a row—shame on me. In this latest lecture the glorious ID, Jason Santa Maria goes over the logistics of print and web and the discusses the relationships between the two.

—Ian

I had the pleasure of meeting Matt Brown, Principal, thingsthatarebrown at SXSWi 2010. After completing his rounds in Austin, he trekked off to speak at Mix10 which he designed. Watch this presentation and learn how designers and IA’s need to be thinking about content and content strategy in wireframes. The stage has been set, now content creators and content strategists need to think more like designers and IA’s. Then we can all make our clients more happy, go to the gym more and go on vacation. (Freudian slippage revealed.)

If you can’t view (Silverlight download and microtext needs some CS love) view the excellent presentation here >> Running with Wireframes.

—Ian

This video is titled “The Right Way to Wireframe”. I think there are many ways if the end result meets/exceeds the client’s business objectives—but it rocks nonetheless. The content strategy exercise and wireframing exercise are/should be inextricably linked, it’s all content we are experiencing but it is an experience we are creating.

—Ian