testimonials

"Thanks for your help with our e-learning project. It was great to be able to work with someone who is professional, reliable and customer-focussed. We launched our website to over 100 of our staff in New Zealand and received a very positive response. I look forward to exploring other opportunities and working with you again."
Loc Tran - Marketing and Special Projects
McLarens Young International
Global Claims Services

"My initial meeting with Jacob Gates was enough for me to know that he was the right person to develop the school’s web site. He had a clear process to follow and took time to understand the nature and ethos of the school.

The strong collaboration and on-going communication that ensued, with me contributing the content for the site and Jacob providing his expert creative and technical design skills, has resulted in a web site of which we are all very proud. The site receives high praise from those who access it from across Australia and around the world."
Alison Hicks
Web Site Manager
Gilles Street Primary School

Re-invigorating the school website - a collaborative approach

Over the past few years the Gilles Street Primary School community has undertaken a process of reflection about our ethos, our assets and our vision for the future. A new motto was coined to reflect the nature of our school in the 21st century: "The World in our City School".

Our next step was to review our information materials to ensure they were attractive, up-to-date and informative and that they truly reflected our current school ethos. To ensure a high quality product and make the most cost-effective use of time and expertise we decided to take a specialist approach – we would work with local professionals to develop a new logo, stationery, information brochure, folder and web site.

We are educational specialists, not designers, photographers, printers or technicians. The relevant professionals are the best people to provide these skills, while we have the knowledge to best communicate to others about our school: our people, programs, procedures, facilities and events. A small group of key personnel were involved in the redevelopment of the school’s web site.

Web designer Jacob Gates was recommended to us, and after our initial meeting we were sure he was the right person for our school. He had a clear process for us to follow and took time to understand the nature of our school. While Jacob developed a range of designs, I became the school’s web site manager and undertook the task of gathering the text and images to be included in each section. Staff and students were approached to write information relevant to their roles in the school. I collected existing documentation, revised it where necessary and wrote additional sections. I reformatted and proof read all text to ensure consistency in style, balance and format. A professional photographer took many images; staff and students contributed others either digitally or as traditional photographs, which I then scanned. Under Jacob’s guidance I reformatted images to an appropriate size. All data was emailed to Jacob at regular intervals.

The ensuing weeks saw a two-way flow of communication through school visits, telephone calls and emails. As Jacob states “On-going communication is of vital importance to web development. It keeps the project moving forward and minimises the risk of misunderstandings. Good communication allows both the client and developer to know exactly where the project stands and whether it be via email, telephone or in person, it must be a top priority.”

For Jacob communication involved sending draft designs, responding to feedback on designs, creating the final design and structure, continuously importing and formatting text and images when sent by the school, sending drafts of pages and sections to the school for checking, and making amendments where necessary. From my perspective this meant working with key staff to select a design and structure, continuously generating and emailing text and images, providing feedback and making amendments to draft pages, all the while consulting and receiving input from representatives of the school community. Restricting the web site redevelopment within the school to a small group of key personnel working through a manager ensured quicker and easier decision-making and consistency in content and style.

From Jacob’s developmental viewpoint “I prefer to deal with only a limited number of individuals on a given project. The more people involved, the longer it takes for decisions to be made. When making developmental decisions, I use the original brief as a continual point of reference asking questions such as ‘does this suitably reflect the client's image’. I provide clients with alternate designs, creative and technical options and then explain pros and cons from my experience but it is the client’s decisions which stand.” The end product has been a web site of which we are all very proud.

At the official launch of the site by the Honourable Lord Mayor of Adelaide, Mr Michael Harbison, he spoke of being “really impressed” with the site and the work in “capturing the essence of the school.” To promote the site a colourful notice with the web address was sent home with all students and the site was listed with South Australia Central. The impact has been immediate. Site statistics show that in 6 weeks we have had 492 visitors and 758 hits, many from overseas countries and interstate. We have received enrolment inquiries as a direct result of people viewing our web site.

Some educational leaders who have visited the site are referring it to others as a model of an exemplary web site and of best practice.

Choosing to employ a professional web designer to work with the school to develop, or redevelop, a web site is a highly successful process to use for all parties involved. A high quality product results that captures the attention of visitors and leads them to revisit or refer to the web site or make contact with the school. Please visit our web site at www.gillesstps.sa.edu.au Alison Hicks Website Manager Gilles Street Primary School.

(As published in the Marketing and International Education Services Newsletter)