News Environments Webpage
Matt Wilson
m3wilson@gmail.com
10/15/09
EdTec 541. Thursday Section, 7pm

Program, Need, or Opportunity

News Environments is a television news consulting company focusing on the design and remodeling of news sets and news graphics. It currently has a website (designed by myself approximately four years ago) in dire need of a new look and expanded content; the current website lacks functionality and does not include recent project examples (for example, the portfolio page includes no mention graphics services).

Web traffic is the main source of advertising for this organization due to the fact that small-market television stations outside of San Diego are its target customers.

Audience

The primary audience for the project is comprised of station managers/news directors looking to obtain an image makeover for their stations. They are going to be at least semi-knowledgeable in terms of logistics regarding news sets/graphics, and will likely access the site because they are actively perusing consulting services.

Television is a technical business, so they will generally be savvy in their ability to efficiently browse the web.

User Needs

I briefly asked three television news professionals what they believe would be crucial to a consulting company to include in its website. Their responses yielded the following key points:

1. The Switch to High Definition is crucial. Many television stations around the country are undertaking the switch from Standard Definition broadcast, to HD broadcast. As a result, the current sets and graphics packages they are using, will either be outdated, lose functionality, or even become obsolete all together. The respondents interviewed stressed the importance of the News Environments website emphasizing how they can remodel both sets and graphics for HD broadcast, but at only a small investment from the station.
2. Emphasize Cost Savings. Increasingly, the television industry is becoming less focused on product, and more focused on cost cutting. The respondents communicated that the News Environments website must emphasize how the company can produce a competitive product for a fraction of the cost.
3. Talk about the Process. The level of service that News Environments provides is what makes it unique. Respondents noted that it is important that a consulting company website discuss the process of finding a solution for each individual station, emphasizing customization from conception to completion.

Environment

The aforementioned station managers/news directors will be viewing this website in a work related capacity, most likely during work hours at an office computer. The bandwidth for these connections will most likely be extremely broad since television is a technology driven industry, and will therefore be capable of handling media-heavy pages with many images and video. Sound media should be limited due to the fact that many workplace computers are not connected to working speakers.

Resources and Limitations

Content for the website has already been generated by the News Environments company in the form of still images from previous projects, computer generated graphics, and text that has been generated through a collaboration between myself and the company owner. Designs and images are intellectual property of News Environments, so few copyright issues should come into play.

The only potential limitation in terms of copyright would arise when attempting to obtain video. Ideally, since television is a video based media, video of past projects would be used in the portfolio portion of the site. However, since that video would be property of the stations that broadcast it, copyrights issues could arise. This issue will be further explored and sorted out with the stations involved before any video is to be uploaded.

Because this is a small business, with a single employee and a small portfolio of previous work, it is realistic to expect that the entire site can be finished and published upon the completion of EdTec 541.

General Solution

The business of television is strongly driven by trends in image-making and visual design. This site should reflect that with a clean, modern design reflective of contemporary broadcast styles. It should be media driven, with video and image content to enable potential consumers to envision the final product. “Before and After” content would be very helpful to show how small-market stations can benefit from simple, cost-effective image overhauls to compete with larger news entities in the new world of High Definition television. Because each solution is customized to each station’s needs, this “Before and After” content is also valuable for showing the creative solutions that customization presents.