Jeff Bridgforth :: Webcraftsman

New approaches to projects and clients

April 9, 2010

Random

For some time, I have been think­ing about how Web design agen­cies func­tion. My obser­va­tion is that most agen­cies take their approach to projects from the print world. The model was project-based. It worked in the print world. But Web is a dif­fer­ent animal.

Web sites are not “done” once they have been designed and launched. Suc­cess­ful sites need atten­tion. Sites are more like organ­isms, they are dynamic and alive. I have seen so many sites over the years launch and then become stag­nant and obso­lete because they were not cared for and given ongo­ing attention.

Josh Porter wrote about this same issue last sum­mer. It was the first time that I saw some­one iden­tify and address this issue.

One agency that is address­ing this issue is Merge in Greenville, South Car­olina. They have devel­oped what they call a “part­ner­ship model.” I don’t know as much about it as I would like to, but I am intrigued by the lit­tle bit I have read. I am excited that Merge will be putting on a Webi­nar on April 21 called A New Way to Web. They are going to share more about the model they have developed.

I am look­ing for­ward to hear­ing how this new approach is work­ing and hope that is the first of many inno­v­a­tive approaches to address this issue. I invite you to join me. You can sign up on Merge’s Web site.