Key messages

Message 1:

Primary audience for message 1:

Message tailored for primary audience.

Secondary audience for message 1:

Message tailored for secondary audience.

Tertiary audience for message 1:

Message tailored for tertiary audience.

Message 2:

Primary audience for message 2:

Message tailored for primary audience.

Secondary audience for message 2:

Message tailored for secondary audience.

Tertiary audience for message 2:

Message tailored for tertiary audience.

Web project roles

Project contributors

Every project will have a different team, with different competencies represented by different people. Edit, revise, or add to this list until each item corresponds to a human (though some people will play multiple roles).

• Project lead
• Project sponsor (client-side)
• Client lead (primary contact)
• Designer(s)
• Developer(s)
• Technical project lead
• Content lead/strategist
• Production support
• Project manager
• Subject-matter expert(s)
• Content providers
• Stakeholders

Common project tasks

Broad responsibilities/tasks:

• Research
• Project management
• Approvals
• Information architecture
• User research
• Sitemapping
• Testing/QA

Content tasks:

• Messaging
• Content inventory
• Content types
• Content development
• Content mapping
• Migration
• Editing/proofreading

Design tasks:

• Wireframing
• Interaction design
• Visual design
• Design documentation

Technical tasks:

• Front-end development
• CMS/back-end development
• ITS support/integration
• Server configuration/launch
• Accessibility testing
• Stability testing
• Training
• Launch

Project roles:

Role:
Contributor (name):
Tasks/responsibilities:

Role:
Contributor (name):
Tasks/responsibilities:

Role:
Contributor (name):
Tasks/responsibilities:

Role:
Contributor (name):
Tasks/responsibilities:

Role:
Contributor (name):
Tasks/responsibilities:

Role:
Contributor (name):
Tasks/responsibilities:

Role:
Contributor (name):
Tasks/responsibilities:

Who is the site for?

Personas are imaginary people who represent the needs of your site audiences. Ideally, they can serve as checkpoints to keep real users in mind as you develop the site's design, functionality and content. To learn more about personas, see usability.gov.

The parts of a persona

Basics

• Name
• Picture (if possible)
• Age
• Education level
• Ethnicity
• Family status
• Job title

Questions

• What's their relationship to your organization?
• What do you have that they need?
• How much time do they have?
• What's their emotional state?
• What motivates them (in their career, in their life, etc.)?
• What's their level of comfort with technology?
• What do they know already?
• What are they confused or scared about?

Content brief

Is this a redesign or a wholly new site?

Are there time constraints?

What is the problem you're trying to solve with this website?

Who are you trying to reach?

What are your objectives?

How would you define success one year from the launch date?

User goals (things users want to accomplish on the website)

Organizational goals

For users (things you want users to do on the website):

For the organization/process:

Functional requirements (capture any technical integration needs, databases, apps, etc.)

It can be hard to know where to start. Here are a few places.

Resources:

• Nicole Fenton's Tiny Content Framework
• Tiffany Jones Brown on the discovery process: Making Things Hard
• Whitney Hess on user interviews: My Best Advice for Conducting User Interviews
• Kevin M. Hoffman in A List Apart: Kick Ass Kickoff Meetings
• Corey Vilhauer in A List Apart: Audiences, Outcomes, and Determining User Needs
• Kristina Halvorson in the Brain Traffic blog: The Content Inventory is Your Friend
• Stephanie Hay in Web Standards Sherpa: Designing for Content: Creating a Message Hierarchy
• Erin Kissane in 24 Ways: Content Planning Demystified
• Erin Kissane in A List Apart: A Checklist for Content Work
• Relly Annett-Baker in 24 Ways on page tables: Extracting the Content

Templates

• IA Institute Tools: Erin Malone's Creative Brief Template (doc)