Paula Savage and "Website design"
Published on 08/30/1998 under Interviews
Now that most companies have experienced the thrills and anxieties of first generation website development, I thought it might be interesting to consider how things are changing as they move beyond that starting point. I talked recently with Paula Savage, a website design veteran based in Houston. Paula is president of Savage Design Group and a partner in its sister company, Net Explorer.
Savage Design and Net Explorer have brought more than 25 major websites on line during the last several years. And they provide a complete package, from page design and html programming to site maintenance, electronic commerce, net security, and more complex or exotic programming that makes pages "on the fly" and graphic elements move and shake on command.
They've designed relatively simple sites like Condea Vista (a specialty chemical company) and Kaiser Aluminum. And they've developed considerably more complex sites for companies like Cooper Cameron Corporation, a worldwide oilfield and industrial equipment company, and Browning Ferris Industries, a leader in waste management.
Cooper Cameron's site now has more than 12,000 pages of information and is in its third generation. Paula's group has worked with Cooper Cameron at every stage of development, for all three generations of the website. Here are some of the questions I asked Paula during our visit.
How are expectations changing as clients develop second and third generation websites?
Many of our early website design clients didn't fully understand the value. They thought it was more like a game or a CD-ROM. Now clients are starting to see the business value. They see the Internet as a way to sell things, or certainly a way to sell the image of their company.
Has this changed the way they work with you?
Most definitely. Clients are not as sure any more about what they want from us. They used to say, "I need a brochure," or "I need a logo design." Now they're more likely to describe their situation and ask us what they need.
So you're becoming more of a communications counselor?
Yes. The Internet has made clients less sure of who their audience is, because they know that anyone can visit the website. And that means people who have not been part of their target audience might now be influencing a decision because they have access to information about the company.
What is a typical budget now for website design?
We estimate $5,000 per website module, so if a company has an introductory corporate section and four divisional sections, they could expect to spend $25,000 for website design including html programming. Of course, most large companies have considerably more information to cover than this, so the typical budget for an industrial company would be much higher.
How has this changed from earlier years?
Well, the lowest website design budget we handled was $7,500. But in the early days we had to contend with small newspaper ads offering website design for $250 and do-it-yourself software kits for even less. People really didn't know how much was appropriate. Now many computer industry magazines regularly publish charts and update articles with budget ranges for various levels of complexity.
What's the most frustrating aspect of website design projects?
The main frustration is that some clients tend to think websites are like television and they totally forget about the interactive aspects. They'd like to put up a brochure or annual report instead of creating something appropriate for the medium. If you want to use print analogies, a website is more like a magazine that comes out every month. It's a work in progress that's never really finished.
I guess that brings us to the subject of website maintenance.
That's another frustrating area, because clients fail to grasp the importance of keeping their sites current. Occasionally I'm embarrassed by things on our own website because they're out of date. It really is a full-time job to keep website content current. And for larger companies, it's several full-time jobs.
Have you got any horror stories about website experiences?
The most horrifying experiences usually happen when we're trying to demonstrate things on the web in our own conference room and the computer won't connect, or the site we're so proudly trying to show-off is down. It's also an educational experience to see graphics that look marvelous on our Macs display totally different on someone else's PC. I guess that's part of the learning curve, but you really have to watch out for special effects that backfire.
What are some of the more unusual jobs your group has handled?
We did a 4-part new product promotion for Texas Instruments that was pretty neat. Each week for four weeks, we teased the computer world about a new DSP (digital signal processor) chip from TI with trivia questions and opportunities to sign up for details as they were released. The graphics and teaser questions changed each week. Ads placed by their ad agency referred prospects to the website.
We did a secure credit card application section for Diamond Shamrock. And Cooper Cameron has a section of their site called "Transact" where only registered visitors can go for engineering drawings, technical bulletins and other important stuff.
Our new website for Browning Ferris is a "city," where each building is actually a mini-website of its own. We even have a helicopter that flies over the city.
Any words of wisdom for aspiring website developers?
Don't be afraid to think outside the box. Think of the impossible, and then figure out how to make the impossible happen. Designers are becoming strategists, so work with your client to set ambitious goals for their website, even if it has to be done in phases.
As Paula Savage says, a website can tell the world things about your company you didn't intend to say. The good news is that second or third generation efforts don't have to be nearly as traumatic as the first.