C-USA Clipboard
Welcome back to the C-USA Clipboard, the official web log of Conference USA! We plan to bring you even more blogs in 2007-08 from our very own C-USA staff and occasionally guests, as well as provide blogs from various league events throughout the season.
November 29, 2007
Erika Amstadt Hirschfield, Creative Services
From an office staff think tank meeting in July to internet reality on November 29, Conference USA introduced its new look today for conferenceusa.com, the league's official website. Since I have been a part of the league's website development from its first official site in the early 90's to its latest version today, I can confidently say about this site - "You've come a long way, baby!" With our online partner, CSTV Online, we have given conferenceusa.com a sleek facelift, a few nips and tucks here, some enhancements there - well you get the idea. ConferenceUSA.com is filled with a lot of content and for the most part, it is all still there - just rearranged, redesigned and refreshed. And some of the new stuff is pretty exciting.
Redesigning a website is pretty much like any remodeling job. You have a vision, a timeframe and a contractor - and a few unexpected hurdles and compromises along the way. But in the end the finished job is rewarding and well worth it. As an athletic conference, we are very familiar with the concept of team and teamwork. This project began in July when the staff met to come up with idea and concepts for the new site. Once these ideas were organized and prioritized into a website "wish list", we met with our editorial and design team at CSTV Online and went through the list, figuring out what we could have, what we might have to live without and what might need more time to develop. Through a series of conference calls and many emails, the design concept was communicated.
A few weeks later, we got our first look at the new site design. There is a lot of anticipation leading up to that first glimpse of a design project. And when it meets or exceeds your expectations, it is a very energizing, positive feeling that can really motivate the entire team to the project's completion. The final weeks involve a lot of detail work, reviewing content, creating content, putting the finishing touches on the design, and for the folks at CSTV - coding, building, all that technical process that turns our website vision into reality. And then the last few days are a bit frantic - more checking, reviewing, linking and polishing. And then it's time to flip the switch, and today, the new site is live.
One thing about the technological world we live in - new becomes old a lot quicker. So I will take some time to "ooh" and "aah" and let the new look sink in. But then it's back to the idea file because maintaining a dynamic site is a lot of work and a team effort. I still have a few new ideas to carry out and I'm anxious to get those done.
Enjoy the new ConferenceUSA.com!