Engage Website Redevelopment Brief June 2018

Transcription

1 Engage Website Redevelopment Brief June 2018 Introduction Engage seeks to recruit a web designer or company to redevelop our website, The current design was launched in The new site should support our members and partners in their work within the visual arts education sector, through an attractive, accessible, responsive design with a clear navigation. In its look and feel the website should be representative of our membership, their diverse practice and the varied locations they are based in. The new site should also underline Engage s position as the lead advocacy and training network for gallery education through clear communication of our organisational mission and values. The redevelopment will include a CMS that is easy to use and allows for adaptation and update of content by the Engage staff team. About Engage Established in 1989 as the National Association for Gallery Education, Engage is the membership organisation representing gallery and visual art education professionals in the UK and over 20 countries worldwide. A registered charity and a company limited by guarantee, Engage is an Arts Council England Sector Support Organisation and receives funding from Creative Scotland and the Arts Council of Wales. Engage's core team of six are based at our central office in London, while other key staff work from home or from other sites on a part-time basis. The Engage Board oversees forward strategy and management issues, advised by the Engage Council on policy and the development of programmes, which is made up of elected Area Representatives. As the UK s most effective support and advocacy organisation for gallery education, we work through our members to promote access to and enjoyment of the visual arts. Our members work in a wide variety of roles within the visual arts education sector, as gallery and museum educators, artists, curators, teachers, consultants and researchers, in both freelance and permanent roles within organisations and institutions of all sizes, in the UK and around the world. In the UK members can meet and continue their professional development at regular group meetings in their region, convened by Area Representatives. These Area Group Meetings are often cited as one of the most valued elements of Engage membership, a vital network where colleagues come together and share practice, especially in cases where there might only be one member of staff fulfilling the learning and education needs of an organisation, or for colleagues who are working freelance.

2 The Engage website The Engage website is the central resource for this network and the gallery education and visual arts education sector at large and was designed to provide up to date news and information about events and training to encourage and assist those working in the field in their career development. It also documents projects we have run and provides advice and information via toolkits, reports etc. The website is home to the Engage Journal, the international journal of visual art and gallery education, published online twice a year, accessible by members and subscribers with back issues in various formats dating back to The publication is not peer-reviewed but invites submissions to a theme from contributors at all stages of their careers, both established writers and those who have very little or no experience of writing for a publication. Finally, the website is a CRM and a way for individuals to register their interest in becoming members of Engage, by uploading their details which are later approved and activated by a member of staff. Access to the site is a membership benefit and members can share examples of their practice to the wider sector and access benefits via a login system. Engage staff manage the membership via the same login system, processing updates, sending invoices etc. As mentioned, the current design dates from 2013, with a minor branding update in 2016 (confined to the replacement of logos and the move from referring to Engage with a lower case e ( engage ) to Engage with an upper case E. Our web visitors In the main, it is likely that our web visitors reflect the make up of our membership - colleagues working in learning and education roles in galleries, museums and heritage venues, at all levels; museum, gallery and visual art educators working freelance; directors; curators; artists; students and early-years practitioners; primary school teachers and teachers of art, craft or design in secondary schools. Most visitors would therefore be familiar with Engage, the work of the organisation and that of our members. However, several of Engage's projects take a slightly different focus and target different audiences, e.g. The Extend Leadership Programme, designed for colleagues working in education and learning roles across all artforms (not just visual arts or in gallery and museum environments). Another example is Children's Art Week, a significant event in Engage's calendar where venues are encouraged to programme visual arts events for children, young people and their families for a week in the summertime. All events are listed on the Engage website and the site inevitably receives higher traffic during this period from groups who would not normally encounter Engage, including parents looking for activities to attend with their children.

3 In 2017 the average monthly number of sessions for the Engage website was 6,833, the average monthly number of users was 5,338 and the average monthly number of page views was 17,276. The majority access the site via a desktop computer the average monthly number is 5095, but visits from mobile devices is reasonably high considering the site is not optimised for mobile access. The average number of visitors using mobile technology is 1,367, and tablet is 371. In a nutshell what we would like to see in our new site: A site which is accessible to all visitors, regardless of their access needs and the device or technology they might be using A clean, user-friendly design which reflects our brand and our place as a support organisation for colleagues working in the visual arts A shop area, for sales of membership, event tickets and publications A resources area where members and sector colleagues can easily access advocacy information, reports, toolkits and other publications An interactive area for our Journal, where new ideas explored by our writers can be responded to by members and subscribers, alongside tagged archive content A system which is straightforward to update and can offer our staff team opportunities to streamline our methods for processing memberships and taking payments Objectives for the new Engage website 1. Emphasise Engage s position as the lead advocacy and training network for gallery education to our target audiences 2. Clearly convey our mission [that everyone should have the opportunity to learn and benefit from the arts, and Engage exists to support arts educators, organisations and artists to work together with communities to do so] within the context of areas of activity 3. Raise the profile of Engage and gallery and visual art education to a variety of stakeholders, including those within our community (existing members, gallery and museum educators, students, venues, artists, curators, directors, teachers, sector organisations etc) and those outside our community (funders, government and nongovernment organisations and agencies) 4. Include a GDPR-compliant CRM to enable Engage to support and manage our membership. 5. Support and enhance revenue-generating activities such as job listings, membership, sales of training courses and publications 6. Integrate Engage s online presence across social channels, as is the case on the current version of the website, with Twitter and Facebook content aggregated on the homepage. It would also be useful to consider adding the facility to share content from the new site via social platforms. 7. The site should utilise open-source software and be fully accessible and compliant with relevant standards. In the wider sense the new site should be accessible also

4 intellectually and with sensitivity to a range of potential user needs. A sound understanding of digital products and services should be demonstrated in all responses to the brief. 8. The website should work with third-party services and software such as Google Analytics, events ticketing, payment services, social media, e-newsletter sign-ups etc 9. The website should be easy for Engage staff to add, update, edit and tag content. 10. The website should consider future digital habits of members and visitors, so the site can adapt. 11. The website should simplify access to Engage s resources with a searchable system of tagged materials. 12. We are open to suggestions regarding a new interface for the Engage Journal - one which might allow members and subscribers to access and comment on a range of content (articles, images, video, links to other materials, tagged social media posts). This will need to link with the archive of Journal content that currently exists, comprised of 41 issues. At this stage it is thought that this interface will exist behind a member/subscriber paywall, with teaser content visible to encourage new sign-ups. 13. The site should clearly delineate open versus member/subscriber-only content. At present, members are invited to log in to access various benefits, such as job listings, access to the Engage Journal and documentation of Area Group Meetings. In its current format it is not possible to see immediately the difference when a member is logged in or not. The new website should clearly differentiate content which is provided to members as a benefit, and signal to non-members what they are missing out on. Other areas for consideration: Content Management System and Customer Relationship Management At present the current Engage website admin allows for the update of site content as well as the administration of Engage membership (maintenance of membership records, invoice processing etc.) Proposals for the new site will need to factor in these requirements and be compliant with GDPR legislation. The new website will be updated frequently by members of the Engage staff team. The CMS should be user-friendly and allow for the easy upload of different materials such as images, documents etc. Page hierarchy and site layout The Engage website homepage navigation alludes to the different areas of Engage's focus Advocacy, Projects (Research & activities), Publications (Dissemination) Training and Events (Professional Development). These are given equal billing alongside other links such as News, Membership, links to Engage Scotland and Engage Cymru and information About Engage. We would be interested in ideas on how this could be reorganised and are eager to segregate the content in a way that is practical and intuitive for the visitor. We would also like for our homepage to give a

5 greater prominence to a clear statement of Engage's mission and how we work to support our members and the sector. Site content, images and other assets The current site contains a wealth of content records of past projects, reports, event information, toolkits etc. Over time the accumulation of information has made the site unwieldy, and it can be difficult for some of our visitors to locate the information they are looking for. To counter this in future we would like for all pages to be tagged according to their content, and for the site to be equipped with a search facility. It is Engage s intention to carry out a full audit of content on the current Engage website to determine what should be copied to the new site and what will require updating, replacing or removal. Once the new site design has been agreed upon, Engage will update and rewrite copy from the current website, including the archive of Journal content, and where necessary write new copy and pages in house. Engage has a significant stock of images that can be used in the new site, as well as several films. Engage branding In 2017 Engage completed a mini rebranding exercise, in response to guidance from a marketing and communications consultation in New logos were rolled out and the organisation is now referred to as Engage, with a capital E, accompanied by a new strapline, Bringing people and art together, to better define Engage s role. This new branding was added to the existing website and new stationery was produced. The colour scheme uses a mint green and blue on a white background: Mint RGB: // Hex - #62bbac, and Blue RGB // Hex - #204d9e. Engage would like to continue to utilise this branding and maximise its usage in the new website. Commerce Engage does not have a dedicated shop or sales area on our current website. We would like to offer this facility within the new design, so that members and nonmembers can locate all items for purchase (conference tickets, workshop places, publications etc) in one area. It is possible that membership might also be purchased in this way. As Engage members benefit from discounts on conference places and training events it will be necessary to have different prices on view, for members and non-members. At present customers pay for Engage services via PayPal or supply their payment details over the telephone to the Engage office. We would like to be able to offer customers ways to pay online using their credit or debit cards, in addition to PayPal. We would be interested in solutions that combine this with an events/ticketing interface (along the lines of Eventbrite or similar), which could allow automatic

6 dispatch of tickets and receipts. Microsites The current site includes separate microsites for several areas of Engage's programme, notably Engage Scotland, Engage Cymru and Children's Art Week, amongst others. The new website should enable these areas to enjoy a certain amount of visual independence, using the project's branding or perhaps different colourways, but ultimately present a unified and coherent design overall. We would also welcome consideration of a separate microsite for our annual conference. Hosting and Support The developer of the Engage website hosts Please provide outline costings for installing the new website using our current hosting provider, as well as alternate costings to host the website on an alternative hosting solution. Timeline Invitation to tender: Monday 4 June 2018 Tender application deadline: 5pm, Monday 25 June 2018 Shortlisted candidates will be invited to interview by: Monday 9 July 2018 Interview date: Wednesday 18 July 2018 Contract awarded: Monday 23 July 2018 Initial meetings with Engage staff team: Week commencing Monday 30 July Deadline to launch new site: 31 March 2019 Budget Engage's budget for the redevelopment of the website is 20,000 (inclusive of VAT), to include the design of the site and the CRM. As noted earlier it will not be necessary to redesign the Engage branding. Respondents to this brief should seek to include the following within this figure: - An initial analysis and scoping process, to take place between the Engage team and the supplier, to define the final, agreed specifications for the site - The development and build of the website, including meetings, workshops and testing - The creation of all pages, including upload of content unless otherwise stated. As detailed Engage will update and rewrite copy from the current website, including the archive of Journal content, and where necessary write new copy and pages in house (using the CMS system) - The creation of a sitemap - All work necessary to meet the technical specification, including the integration of third party software and a CRM - Project and account management - Provision of an administration interface or CMS - A planned phase of user testing, to allow for flexibility to be responsive to this testing

7 Respondents should also outline costs for any future site maintenance and hosting (year-on-year) and/or whether this support would need to be provided by the individual/agency or by another company. Tender proposal Applicants are requested to submit proposals for this work that include the following information: - An outline of the approach that will be taken to establishing and delivering the project - Examples of sites which you feel are relevant to our requirements - A timetable for the project - A profile of the project team, including the name and brief biography of key team member/s - Case studies or examples of previous relevant work - Testimonials for previous projects or contact details of two referees, in the case of an independent or freelance contractor - An indicative budget for the work The deadline for receipt of applications is 5pm on Monday 25 June Please send applications to Ailbhe Mac Eoin, Communications Officer at communications@engage.org. If you have any questions related to this tender, please contact Ailbhe Mac Eoin on or communications@engage.org. Applicants may be contacted by or telephone to clarify their proposal. Tender Decision Notification Engage is not bound to accept any tender. Shortlisted contractors will be invited to interview before a final decision is made with regard to awarding a contract. All those who have been involved in the tendering process will be informed by .