Managing Interactive Media Projects Book

Preface     ix
Managing Interactive Media Projects     1
Introduction     2
Who Should Read This Book     2
Party Line     2
Why This Book?     4
Projects this Book Covers     5
Case Study: Theater Company Web Site Overhaul     5
Meet the Neo-Futurists     5
The Content Developer     6
A Typical User     7
Step-by-Step     8
Effective Communication     9
Collaboratively Yours     9
Project Scenarios     9
Stay Flexible     10
Get Crackin'     10
Exercises     11
Conceptualization and Initial Planning     13
Introduction     14
Get the Hook     14
Honing an Existing Idea     15
Profile: Threadless.com: A Good Idea for the Right Audience     15
It's All About the Details     19
The Other Side     21
Develop a Thesis Statement     21
The Initial Plan     22
Define Your Audience     22
Define Your Goals     22
Define your Tools     23
Set a Launch Date     23
Find Resources     23
The Money Question     24
Summary     25
Case Study: Conceptualization and Initial Planning     25
Brainstorming with the Neo-Futurists     25
Exercises     28
Tools     28
The Initial Proposal     29
How Much Does a Web Site Cost?     30
Proposal Precursors: Defining Projects     31
The Dangling Carrot     34
Elements of a Good Proposal     35
Payment Structure     40
Scope Document     40
Change Request Forms     40
Case Study: Building the Neo-Proposal     41
Joomla CMS     42
Conclusion     41
Exercises     41
Tools     44
Profile: Alesia Tyree, McDougal Littell: Elements of a Good Proposal     45
Defining Project Specs     47
Define Before You Design     48
Defining a Spec     49
Profile: Judi Lapinsohn: The Importance of Strategic focus Groups when Assessing Content     49
Case Study: Defining Project Specs     53
Lock and Load     56
Sign-off     56
Applying Your Specs      57
System Requirements     57
Profile: Jason Saunders, Charlottezweb.com: Choosing the Right Hosting Provider     57
Testing     59
A Cautionary Tale     60
Conclusion     61
Exercises     61
Supplemental Materials     61
Content Assessment and Treatment     63
Content is King     64
What Makes a Good Story?     64
Where Will the Content Come From?     64
Flow Will the Content Be Defined?     65
Case Study: Assessing the Neo-Futurists' Content     65
Your Content Development Schedule     67
Profile: Lee Parkel, Abelson-Taylor: Routed Clean: The importance of the Review Process     67
The Treatment/Content Outline     69
Peer Review     70
Conclusion     71
Exercises     71
Information Architecture and Navigation Chart     73
Content Structures     74
Information Architecture     74
Define Media Elements     75
Define Naming Conventions     75
Define Directory Structures     77
Creating Your Flowchart     80
Conditional Logic vs. Information Screens      80
Types of Charts     81
Create Wire-frames     82
Define Possible Future Content Structures     83
Case Study: Information Architecture     83
The Neo Flow     83
Conclusion     85
Exercises     85
Supplemental Materials     85
Creating a Script and Asset List     87
Tell Your Story     88
Head to Head: Script vs. Flowchart     88
The Script     89
Consistency Check     91
Case Study: Script and Asset List     91
Scripting the Theater     91
The Asset List     92
Profile: Judy Cammelot, Devore Software: Developing Scripts for Interactive Projects     93
Conclusion     93
Exercises     95
Tools     95
Art Direction and Interface Design     97
Defined, Designed     98
Conceptualization     98
Conceptualization Take Two     100
Creating Design Comps     102
Profile: Christina Weisbard: The Creative Process and Working with Clients     103
Creating a Design Rationale Document     107
Presenting the Designs      108
The Waiting Game     108
Comp Revisions     109
Final Approval     109
Case Study: Art Direction and Interface Design for the Neo-Futurists     109
Conclusion     112
Exercises     112
Tools     112
Revisions, Approvals, Scope and Feature Creep     113
The Revision Factor     114
Creepers at Bay     114
Managing Expectations     115
Case Study: Revisions on the Neo-Futurists Site     115
Revision Philosophy     117
Unrealistic Expectations     118
Approvals: Waiting for the Thumbs Up     119
Defining the Approval Process     120
Managing Approvals     120
Conclusion     120
Exercises     120
Tools     120
Prototyping and Scope Creep Redux     121
Stop, Click, and Roll(over)     122
Rapid Prototyping and Iterative Steps     122
When to Prototype     123
One Little, Two Little, Three Little Prototypes     123
Profile: Michael Schaffner: It Works on My Machine: Prototyping and the Testing Process     123
Feature Creep     124
Profile: Christopher Salvo: The Benefits of Rapid Prototyping     125
Conclusion     126
Exercises     126
Profile: Dave Clarke: Prototyping Games in Flash     127
Case Study: Prototyping and Scope Creep Redux     129
The Navigation Banner     129
Design Production     131
Defined, Refined, Redesigned     132
Concurrent Design and Production     132
Screen by Screen     134
Where to Begin     134
In Your Element(s)     135
Files and Folders: The Name Game     135
Work That Template     136
Don't Be Lazy     137
Case Study: Design Production for the Neo-Futturists'     137
The Content Template     137
Screen Production     140
Presentation and Approval     140
Conclusion     140
Exercises     140
Tools     140
Production and Programming     141
Come Together     142
Make it Modular     142
Thirty-One Flavors     143
Individual vs. Team Production     143
File Management     143
The Clock is Ticking     145
Revisiting Your Tools     145
Standardize Production Elements     146
The Asset Library     149
Structure Setup     150
Profile: Marcia Sutter: Working with Content Management Systems     151
Your Faithful Documents     152
Tracking Time     152
Progress Reports     152
Case Study: Production on the Neo-Futurists' site     153
Conclusion     156
Exercises     156
Tools     156
Testing, Revision Tracking and Quality Assurance     157
Ready, Set, Test     158
Testing Defined     158
Case Study: QA for the Neo-Futurists' Site     159
The Testing Environment     161
The Testing Matrix     161
Bug Standards and Priorities     163
Finishing Touches     164
Test Away     164
Tallying Your Results     164
Exterminate     164
Lather, Rinse, Repeat     164
Other Testing Options     164
Internal vs. External Testing     165
Profile: Sean Conley: External Testing and When to Do It     167
Even Creepier     168
Case Study. Newark InOne Search Engine Tour     170
The Need     170
The Specs     171
The Content     172
The Design     173
The Production     173
The Testing     175
The Deliverable     176
Conclusion     177
Exercises     177
Tools     177
Final Revisions, Launch, Promotion and Maintenance     179
The Home Stretch     180
The Cut-off Point     180
The Final Files     180
What's in a Master?     180
Deliverable: Application vs. Source Code     181
Looking Ahead     182
If You Build It, Will They Come?     182
Pixel Polygamy     182
Promotion     182
Maintenance     184
The Plan     184
Payment Plans     184
Case Study: "Launching www.neofuturists.org"     185
Neo-Prep     186
File Finessing     186
Promotional Opportunities     187
Conclusion     188
Exercises     188
Tools     188
Index     189