Mixed Feelings

Some of you may remember the drum corps website I worked on back in ’05. Well, it seems that the corps is “streamlining” their communications, and they’d like to retool the site. That’s fine. I can dig that. I can even use the design they’d like me to use, although I insist on trying a few different variations on it first.

The only thing that really makes me sad is that I worked SO HARD on getting the content management system to be robust enough to serve their needs, and now the site is pretty much going to be a static electronic brochure. No individual member logins, no real need for members-only news items… they’ll keep the news feed around, and they’ll keep the schedule up-to-date, and I think they’ll keep the file upload feature for staff, but it’s not the same. The site will mainly be used as a recruiting tool, rather than the multifaceted communications tool I’d wanted it to be.

Maybe I wasn’t proactive enough. Maybe I didn’t keep up with it as well as I should have. But I did what I was told, when I was told, and I was so proud of what I’d achieved. I learned so much by programming all that, and I was actually pretty proud of my design. (I went through lots of thumbnails and comps to get to that final.)

Maybe this is my chance to make something that really pops, though. I can take the site and streamline it all to hell. I won’t be depressed about this — I’ll be grateful for the chance to update this two-year-old design.

Really, I will.