Hillary Commission

Size: 380 pages

Government status: was part of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

My professional status: contractor at CWA New Media

Website client: The Hillary Commission

Dates: April 1997 and March - October 1999

Categories: Scoping/pitching/quoting, Client liaison, Project manager, IA & UX, Website designer, Front-end developer, Content-loader, Webmaster, Old-school table layout, No CMS, Government websites, Large sites

Brief: to design and build the Kids Go 4 It (1997) and Push Play (1999) sections of this multi-award-winning website. Maintenance, development and a complete overhaul of the site (1999).

We are really pleased that you are staying on to finish the re-structuring, Ali. We couldn't do it without you!
Sue Walker, Research and Information Manager, Hillary Commission for Sport Fitness and Leisure

My responsibilities included:

Initial design for the Kids Go 4 It section (1997)
In 1999 I took over responsibility for weekly maintenance of the website
Design and build of the Push Play website, which mirrored the imagery used in the ad campaign, while still fitting in with the look and feel of the rest of the Hillary Commission site
Working closely with the Hillary Commission on plans for the compete overhaul of site architecture and navigation, including design and architecture, budgeting and timelining
Completing the overhaul as my final CWA project for 1999, and overseeing the redesign of the look and feel of the site.

The development of this site over 3 years meant that by March 1999 the entire site needed to be overhauled and the navigation and architecture streamlined - while regular updates were still continuing. This was a major undertaking, months in the planning, with a real feeling of achievement on completion.

Ali - congrats for getting this together sooo quickly!
Jill Wilson, Director, CWA New Media

Awards

WAMMO PostBeta 3 stars - 7 May 1997

Look out for "Go 4 It" kids page featuring an online magazine and a range of projects for schools.

SODA award - 3 June 1997

A very well put together site from the folks at CWA. The site uses .gif animation to great effect on its main menu page and as an indicator to display exactly where you are in the many pages off the main page.

SODA award (for Kids Go 4 It section) - 11 August 1997

Cute colourful graphics that have small file sizes, and very easy to navigate around, this site is also worth a visit for some good design ideas.

SODA Website of the Year award - 12 November 1997

Neat animations and well executed page layout make the site a pleasure to use, and with the regularly updated content, provide the visitor with plenty of reasons to bookmark the site and return frequently.