Redesigns are inevitable, no matter how well you think your website is built today, it will grow old as business models evolve and technologies progress. The key to a successful redesign is to understand the purpose.
Establishing the Difference: Redesign, Realign and Refocus
I want to introduce a term I've been using more of these days and that's "Refocus." But let's define what a redesign/Realign is first.
A redesign is restarting from the ground up. Re-architect the back-end (php, ruby, etc), rewriting the front-end (HTML, CSS, etc), and designing from a blank canvas.
A realign is a understanding of what doesn't work and how to refocus attention on what needs to work. Most of the time this consists of starting from the ground up with a complete redesign as stated above. Other times it's just a matter of making adjustments.
And that's where a refocus comes in. Refocusing is a minimized version of a realign; where a complete redesign is not needed. The goal here is to reorganize the purpose and goals without committing to a full redesign. Doing anything to keep the process minimal.
My Redesign/Realign Saga
I just went through two personal redesigns myself in under a year. The last version of my website (v6) took me 9 months to design/code. When the new smell wore off I realized I needed another.
I got emotionally Involved.
You've all heard it before, I'm not sure where...maybe TV. With my v6 redesign I was emotionally involved; the aesthetics had to be perfectly balanced. For example: I kept exploring strategies on how to balance the sidebar with the content, from an aesthetic perspective. The result was that every page was too busy; I had to find content to put in certain places because it 'fit.'
Getting emotionally involved kept me from focusing on what was really important. The user. The content. The objective.
Until next time, follow me on twitter, @michaeldick