The Nazareth Trust

Initial Meeting: Joseph Main, CEO of The Nazareth Trust, approached us during Summer 2008 to help them re-design their existing website. His organisation is based in the North East and operates in England, Scotland and Israel. He asked us and a few other web design agencies in the North East to pitch for the opportunity to work alongside them in the redesign of their website.

He emailed us a comprehensive list of how they'd like their new website to work for them as well as a wish list of some other things they'd like to see on their new site. This list gave us a greater understanding of their future vision and allowed us to see very early on how far forward we could technically take EMMS and their website.

We pitched our ideas and detailed project proposal to Joseph and his team and waited to hear back. It wasn't long before we heard back from him with an invitation to meet up with him to discuss the project further. Upon meeting with him he immediately commented on how far ahead of all the other agencies our ideas, vision and proposal were and that he was very keen on progressing the project further with us.

The wish-list from Joseph and the scope of the web design project were pretty big. We realised whilst writing our proposal that this project needed to be broken down in to 3 key stages in order for the website to be launched early 2009. We asked Joseph to consider breaking the project down into the following key stages:

Stage 1: Design of initial content managed website and appeal sections.

Stage 2: Implement the CiviCRM tools to allow a more managed and structured donations system.

Stage 3: Design and implement the online shopping cart and remaining systems.

We knew that Stage 1 of the project would be the longest as this involved the creation of the site-map, designing of the individual page wireframes and designs, the building of the core Drupal systems and bespoke modules, the training of the staff at The Nazareth Trust in how to use the Drupal content management system and then the population of the website with all of its content. This stage was going to be no small task.

Project Challenges: We knew from the start though that our greatest challenge was not to be able to meet the high expectations we had set ourselves, we knew we could do that, it was to be deliver the website and its systems in within an easy to use, content managed environment. Userbility was going to be paramount to the success of this project.

Another challenge we met was the organisation and project management required on a project of this size. We worked very closely with Joseph and his team at The Nazareth Trust. We work to a strict 6 stage web design methodology for the design of all of the websites we design: initial discussion, site map design, wireframe design, page layout design, build and go-live. Working to this structured methodology not only focused our team on the project ahead, it also gave Joseph and his team a well organised guide to how the website would work and the level of content required.

We knew that teamwork and communication were going to be integral to the success of the project. With our client based in the North East and also in Edinburgh, the South East and Israel we decided to implement technologies to deliver a better working environment for us all. We created an online file-sharing system to allow us to quickly and efficiently move designs, mock-ups, images and text content. We also gave Joseph and his team access to our development server so they could login and see the progress we were making on their project. These systems coupled with regular contact and project updates helped smooth the design and build process throughout this project.

The most complicated part of the The Nazareth Trust website project was the design and development of the Appeal & Donations section. Joseph wanted this section to inform the visitor of all the different appeals that they were promoting and encourage them to donate to them. We developed a very bespoke solution to their requirements by creating almost a 'website within a website'. The Appeal & Donations part of their website will allow them to create a bespoke section of their site for each of their appeals. Each of these sections will house an RSS news feed, case studies, video and picture gallery and 'Just Giving' donations form bespoke to each of the appeals that they run. This will not only allow The Nazareth Trust to create a 'mini-website' for each appeal, it will also allow the people who donate to each appeal to keep regularly informed on the progress of their particular appeal.

In Summary: Joseph and his team at The Nazareth Trust are very happy with the website we have created for them. Looking back to the initial proposal they sent out to the prospective agencies, and looking now at the solution we have delivered, they are blown away at how we have interpreted their thoughts and dreams and created a website that they know will lift their organisation to even greater heights. We know that the success of our website designs lies in the creative UI (User Interface) and back end system solutions. A website that is easy for the visitor to use, to navigate and to learn from will reap the rewards. A website that is also built around an easy to use and intuitive content management system will allow a business to build an exceptional online presence.

We used these design and build principles throughout the The Nazareth Trust project. Working to these has allowed us to create a unique website solution for them. Working to these principles throughout this project has fine tuned our own skills in web design, web development, project management and further improve our design methodology.

The Future: We are very excited about working alongside our friends at The Nazareth Trust in the ongoing development of their website and the building and nurturing of their online and off-line brand image.

www.nazarethtrust.org