Why An Accelerated Timeline is Bad for Your Website Re-Design

The Declaration of Acceleration

We often get requests for "accelerated timelines" when we design and develop credit union websites. More often than not, its less of a request and more of a declaration by the client, "We have an accelerated timeline" they'll say. "We need the site to go live in 2 months". This has happened to us multiple times in recent years, and I am always disappointed when I hear it. Not because it means we'll have to work faster or harder or more diligently to produce the site; we already work to the fullest extent of our ability with as much swiftness as possible with every project we take on, but because it means that it is very possible that the client won't get the best result in the end. We never rush through a project because in our eyes, quality is more important than an accelerated delivery. It is very difficult to attain both.

A Customer Experience Gone Bad Because of Poor Vendor Integration

First lets clear the air... I am officially admitting that I am a credit union traitor. I use a big bank. I have been a "customer" of TD Bank for almost 10 years. TD Bank is their fourth brand identity since I became a customer of the Franklin Lamoille Bank of Vermont in 2000. Then it was "Banknorth", then "TD Banknorth", and now "TD Bank". Maybe the reason their rates are so poor is because they've spent millions of dollars on re-branding the institution two times in the past three years.

Based on my terrible experience with them today, its blatantly obvious that not only have they switched brand identities, but they have also changed some of their processing systems to become "America's most convenient bank". Its also obvious that I know more about the inconveniences that those systems can create than some of the call center operators do.

I went online today to go through the 2 minute process of ordering deposit slips for my personal checking account. That 2 minute process became a 45 minute one. I went to the online banking site, logged in, and then found the "re-order" checks link. I selected the account I wanted to order for, and was blasted with a popup window that said "ERROR" in bright red text... "NO HISTORY FOR THIS ACCOUNT". I looked up in the left corner... I saw a logo that said "Harland Clarke". I thought "oh great."

Consistency is More Important than Creativity

What Really Matters for Credit Union Websites: REVISITED - Part Four

OK, now we are getting down to the nitty gritty of website design for credit unions. Just a pre-cursor to this article... I'm never one to discourage creativity, but always enforce how it is used on a website. The original article speaks for itself and is just as relevant now as it was when written.

Google Drops Support of IE6, L9 follows

Some of us got an email from Google this morning that was a delight to see. It said, among other things "...over the course of 2010, we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 ​as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers."

Google claimed good reasons for discontinuing support of IE 6, including the introduction of HTML 5, but I still think the best reason was "browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers." That made me think of the question, "what browsers does Microsoft really support?" I've had hundreds of problems with Internet Explorer over the years, and I think I can safely assume that Microsoft could care less about that. If I started sending emails to Microsoft asking them to build a browser that actually understood CSS like the other top browsers, they would probably give me a response that was similar to the one that email designers got when they told Microsoft that Outlook 2010 is broken... that it's that way for a reason.

The Benefits of Good Brand Representation

What Really Matters for Credit Union Websites: REVISITED - Part Three

In the original white paper about "What Really Matters for Credit Unions Online", I touched on the importance of brand presence on credit union websites. The intention was to emphasize that a good user experience makes for a good impression of your brand. This applies to every little detail on your site.

Set Yourself Apart by Being Un-Original

What Really Matters for Credit Union Websites: REVISITED - Part Two

We have heard credit union customers say that they want a site that is “like nothing you’ve ever seen.” We tell them that it will then also be like nothing your members have ever seen, so they’ll have to spend too much time figuring out how to use it. If we develop a site that is modeled after a highly used website that effectively employs best practices, it is likely to be more successful.

What Really Matters for Credit Union Websites?

What Really Matters for Credit Union Websites: REVISITED

In the fall of 2007, we released a white paper about credit union website design called "Website 'Standards' – What Really Matters for Credit Unions Online?". It is still the most downloaded article on our website. We often refer our clients to the article to provide them with a deeper understanding of why we design credit union website interfaces the way we do, and what the meaning behind our seemingly traditional methods really is.