ConsciousCapitalism.com Site Redesign & Content Management System Proposal for Creative Services Drafted by Scine, Inc.
Conscious Capitalism, Redesign & CMS
prepared:
06.10.09
CONTENTS: PROJECT OVERVIEW
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CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
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SCOPE OF WORK
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ESTIMATES
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ABOUT SCINE
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CASE STUDIES
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Proposal for creative services prepared by
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Conscious Capitalism, Redesign & CMS
prepared:
06.10.09
PROJECT OVERVIEW: Currently the Conscious Capitalism web site (C3 site) is a static web site meaning that the content of the web site cannot change without re-creating the entire web site. Our goal is to setup a content management system (CMS) that will allow site administrators to update and change site copy, images, etc. When the first iteration of the site was created a lot of time and money went into site updates, specifically updates and changes to speaker biographies, event scheduling, and general copy changes site wide. Updating this information required a lot of effort on the part of Flash developers to take data from Flow and integrate copy, create new layouts for the schedule, etc. With a CMS in place all of this effort can be controlled by one person that simply logs into the system and enters the data, updates the data, or deletes data no longer re la vent. Along with creating a CMS that controls the site content we will create a fresh design and layout for this years event. This will accomplish two things: creating a new look for the new conference, and helping to define the templates used for creating new pages on the site so that Flow gets more years of use from the site itself. With new designs and templates for the C3 site, Scine will create the site with hooks for all important and relevant data on the site. Implementing this Content Management System (CMS) will also make content of the C3 site accessible by major search engines. Wit the current site content is hidden to major search engines. Using the CMS tools to update the site we can retain the elegance of the Flash web site and benefit from having content published in an alternate format for search engines to read and index; greatly improving the web site’s presence online and adding the ability to search for data on the site with major search engines. To recap, our goals are simple: 1. Implement an easy to use Content Management System allowing laymen to update site content throughout the site. Anyone with Microsoft Word and web experience will be able to update the web site content. 2. Provide better visibility of site content to major search engines improving online presence. 3. Create a new look for the C3 event
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Proposal for creative services prepared by
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Conscious Capitalism, Redesign & CMS
prepared:
06.10.09
THE CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: A content management system (CMS) is simply a set of administrative web pages on your web site that allow administrators to log in and make changes to site content. Changes may be as simple as adding a new contact email, or as complex as adding a new category of photos and uploading the new photo gallery. The key to a good CMS is simplicity and ease of use, to that end Scine has been developing on top of well known open source software to create a system that is easy to use and operates hand in hand with Flash web sites. We setup and tailor the CMS to handle the tasks required for each site individually and provide narrated video tutorial walk throughs of all the major features of the system. Who wants to read the manual when you can follow along with a screen cast and see exactly what to click on to do what you want. There are many benefits to building a CMS into any web site, especially Flash web sites. • Cost. Without a CMS tool, any copy change, photo update, or edit of any kind must be done by a Flash developer at around $100 / hour. With a CMS tool anyone with web experience and Microsoft Word experience can update the site content any time. • Time. Not only do you have to pay someone to make updates, but there may not be anybody available and you might have time sensitive data that needs updating on the web site whether it’s a copy error in a menu, a mistake in the company’s contact numbers, etc. • Search Engine Visibility. A must for any web site, typical Flash web sites are not read by search engines, and therefor any content in the site is lost to the outside world. The internet is information, if your information is hidden, you have no web site. Our CMS tool provides an alternate Search Engine readable site that mirrors the content on the Flash web site. • Site Longevity. Being in full control of the content on your site you will find that redesigns of the site are not as important as you can update the site as much as you want as frequently as you want saving money. Some added benefits of implementing our CMS & Flash framework into your current site: • Faster site loading. Currently the site loads extremely slow, as a result of the site overhaul the site will load almost immediately without having to wait for images. • Deep linking. Gives your Flash site the ability to show the user exactly where they are within the site by changing the URL in the browser. This allows anyone to copy and paste URLs that link to specific pages and send them to friends or clients. Example: http://consciouscapitalism.com/#/speakers/david_wolfe/ (if you were to browse to that page, you could copy the URL and email it to a client, once the link is clicked on the browser goes directly to that speaker’s detail page).
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Proposal for creative services prepared by
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Conscious Capitalism, Redesign & CMS
prepared:
06.10.09
SCOPE OF WORK: To understand the CMS we first need to understand that there are several types of pages on the C3 site. Some of these pages are simple templates and can be added and removed from the site, some pages have specific features that are more rigid in their adherence to design and layout specifications. For every feature in the CMS we provide prerecorded screen cast tutorial / walkthroughs so that every feature of the CMS is quickly accessible and understood by anyone maintaining the site. There are two basic page template types that can be added and removed from the site via the CMS. These are text only pages and text with image pages. These are best understood by looking at the Movement and Why Now pages of the current web site respectively. Both of these page types can contain PDF links. Creating a new basic page template in the system is as simple as clicking Create - New Page. Whether or not is becomes a page with image template is determined by the simple addition of an image page attached to the new page copy. PDF links are generated for basic page templates if PDF pages are created and attached to the new page. The Program and Speakers page are both unique templates and data is entered in different ways for these pages. Quite simply there will be a Create - New Speaker and Create - New Event areas of the CMS. Every time someone creates a new event or speaker with the CMS that data will appear on the Flash web site much as new pages are created and show up on the site. The designs and layouts of the page types is dictated in the redesign which is based roughly on the current site layout which will require approval. CMS page types and data: Page, text only (with or without PDF file) Page, text + image (with or without PDF file) Page, image only (with or without PDF file) Program page: Contains a graphic display of the events and their details. Each event contains: a title, list of speakers, date, start time, end time, * description (optional) Speakers can link directly to the speaker bios and link to descriptions of that event (optional) Speakers page: Contains a list of speakers and their details. Each speaker contains: speaker name, speaker title, speaker image, speaker bio
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Proposal for creative services prepared by
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Conscious Capitalism, Redesign & CMS
prepared:
06.10.09
SCOPE OF WORK: DESIGN: Scine will be providing multiple revised looks for the C3 site for client review. After discussion we will go through design revisions to tailor the design based on client feedback. Prior to design exploration data points in the CMS (as outlined previously) should be agreed upon and in place for the designer to work against and provide a foundation for the site structure. We feel that we have outlined the minimum of functionality for the CMS to be useful and that by approaching web site development from this vantage we are better able to add functionality at a later date should the case arrive. This is generally referred to as “agile development� where site functionality is kept to its core necessities to begin with. After the site is running and users both on the client side and end user side have used the site should the need for more information and new pages arise we can quickly add them rather than lumping all features we can think of at the beginning which often leads to bloated budgets, unrealistic deadlines, and unused, often unimportant features.
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Proposal for creative services prepared by
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Conscious Capitalism, Redesign & CMS
prepared:
06.10.09
ESTIMATES: Rough Cost Estimate Based on above concepts: $xx,xxx.xx
This includes redesign, CMS setup, rebuilding / recoding the Flash site to use the CMS tools. Everything but what was noted as optional in Scope of Work. Cost does not include data entry, data entry prices can be made available upon request.
Additional features such as linking speaker names in the program schedule to speaker pages can be done with an additional cost of: $x,xxx.xx
Full event program descriptions (per event item) can be integrated into the site with an additional cost of: $x,xxx.xx
Rough Time Estimate:
2 to 3 weeks.
This is an estimate of the total days Scine incurs during the project, the actual length of the project is dependent on the amount of time Flow takes between phases, reviews, sign offs, and timely delivery of required assets / materials to Scine when requested.
Upon sign off Scine will provide a more detailed time table, and setup the CMS so Flow site administrators can begin entering data even before the Flash site is designed and coded. Working in tandem on multiple project responsibilities will allow for faster creation time.
Start date: Immediate
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Proposal for creative services prepared by
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Conscious Capitalism, Redesign & CMS
prepared:
06.10.09
ABOUT SCINE: Scine creates and builds web sites and web applications: our sites live and breathe, interact, look cool, and make peoples lives easier and more fun. We work closely with our clients to create the most useful and engaging products. We specialize in Adobe Flash development (motion & scripting), database and Rich Media applications. Scine focuses on design and art centric projects. Our studio members bring a mix of Fine Arts, Design and Music to the table. This convergence of creative disciplines gives us unique insight into many creative fields so we can cater to our clients – their needs, their priorities, and what works for them online and off. This market allows us to challenge our core skill sets and work on the most visually interesting projects. Scine has worked with major brands and companies building a wide spectrum of web sites, web applications, and designs for clients such as Comedy Central, Mini Cooper, and the Detroit Institute of Arts. At Scine, we love what we do and we take pride in providing the highest level of service and dedication to our clients. Daniel Englert, owner and founder of Scine, Inc., graduated from the Pratt Institute in 1998 with a BFA in Computer Graphics and Animation. He has been the creative force behind many web sites and web applications, from corporate intranets to design-centric Flash web sites. He is able to attract top designers, programmers and developers to work for him.
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Proposal for creative services prepared by
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Conscious Capitalism, Redesign & CMS
prepared:
06.10.09
SCINE CASE STUDY: Client: Smith
URL: http://smithedit.com
Industry: Film Editing and Post Production
Smith is part of a trilogy of synergistic companies composed of: We Are Resident, WildChild (post), and Smith. Resident is the visual effects division, WildChild is the post production company and the new edition to the family Smith is the edit house. Together they make a power trio of talent that puts out some of the most impressive work in motion graphics today. Scine has been involved with all three of the trilogy sites and is about to embark on an overhaul of the Resident brand and we’ve been happy to guide them to the best solutions for their companies in both design and technical direction. What makes the Smith site so special is the use of our Content Management System. We have to tailor it to every site, but it is worth the effort every time. Not only can sales send links directly to videos and films they’ve cut, but third party web sites can link directly to their work. Here is a deep link example from Smith: http://smithedit.com/#/videos/nini/naturally-capable/ Copy the link and paste it into a web browser, the Flash site will automatically open to that specific video. Now comes the fun part, search engines. Go to google.com and search for: Smith Edit Naturally Capable What is the first link you see? It is a link to their site. This is a very important thing to note as most Flash web sites do not offer this kind of search engine visibility. We chose this case study because it relates directly to the goals we have set forth for 583parkavenue.com and have setup a test version of the Smith site and CMS for your review. CMS demo tool URL: http://smith.scine.com/wp-login.php user: smithanvil, password: hAmmAnv1L For a walk through of the CMS tool and how it works you can watch the tutorials on the homepage or just give Daniel Englert a call and he’ll be more than happy to walk you through the processes.
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Proposal for creative services prepared by
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Conscious Capitalism, Redesign & CMS
prepared:
06.10.09
CASE STUDY: Client: Smith
URL: http://smithedit.com
Industry: Film Editing and Post Production
Above: Editor homepage, all editors are entered and managed with the CMS
Right: Detail of deep link to a specific video in the flash site. All videos are grouped by editor, and all content (images, videos) are managed with the CMS.
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Proposal for creative services prepared by
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Conscious Capitalism, Redesign & CMS
prepared:
06.10.09
SCINE CASE STUDY: Client: Hovermedia
URL: http://hovermedia.com
Industry: Web & Print Design Firm
Hovermedia has been designing web sites and branding companies for years. Their expertise is evident simply by browsing their gallery of projects and the caliber of the work speaks for itself. Contracted to develop the web site Scine implemented a variation on their site CMS tools to make adding new gallery types and gallery entries simple, quick, and effective to match the pace at which this small studio outputs their great work. All content on the site is controlled by the site CMS tools. Hovermedia is a simple and effective site that follows our basic work principles: KIS (Keep it simple), agile development (create only what is necessary, add more functionality later Only if necessary), solid and simple animation / design techniques that allow for a consistent user experience.
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Proposal for creative services prepared by
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Conscious Capitalism, Redesign & CMS
prepared:
06.10.09
CASE STUDY: Client: Hovermedia
URL: http://hovermedia.com
Industry: Web & Print Design Firm
Above: An example gallery of work. Right: Detail of a project detail window in the work gallery.
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