As a web designer I live and breathe great data. Every 10 years the Census Bureau counts every U.S. citizen. It also means data junkies like me get access to rich demographic statistics. Highly effective user experience design and web development evolves from knowing your audience. The current census data is gold for church leaders seeking ways to retool their website in hopes of reaching out to their community. Continue Reading…
As I shared yesterday, a solid user experience is pivotal to the success of your website. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to read today how a group of Swiss user experience labs had married two of my favorite subjects, user-experience design and LEGOs. Based on LEGO’s experiential process, Serious Play, URL or User Requirements with LEGO allows groups and organizations to gather web-based requirements using LEGO blocks. The URL methodology allows a project lead to break the ice with the use of LEGOs and bring a sense of fun to the discovery process. Continue Reading…
Every community has one, it’s that church which seems to draw thousands on a Sunday morning, has the slickest website, or sponsors every community event. It’s natural for organizations, even churches, to want to emulate success, or what they perceive as being successful. So, if you follow the same steps toward success, you reap the same rewards, right? Wrong.
If you look across the landscape of how churches communicate and share their stories, you’ll find it littered with copycats. From brand strategies, website templates to messaging, churches often fall prey to the practice of over promising through communications and then under delivering in the execution. It’s easier to emulate rather than investing the sweat equity required to discover who you are and what you do well. Success is ultimately achieved when you share your authentic story – the story of who you are as a church, not who you wish you were. Continue Reading…
Over the years, I’ve conducted hundreds of discovery interviews as a consultant. It may be a church communications audit one day, social media strategy, or full website redesign the next. All projects begin with a series of discovery sessions, or conversations where both project stakeholders and their constituency share who they are and what they do. This becomes the foundation for what is eventually created. Continue Reading…
Best described as a tech-toting evangelist for web and social media, Matt Carlisle consults with non-profits and faith groups to make the necessary changes to fully embrace new media.
