Background

The Mark is Canada’s daily online forum for news, commentary, and debate. The Mark is founded on the idea that thousands of credible Canadians have important things to say but cannot reach a national audience.

Challenge

The Mark was in a rush to make a big impact. Initially launched in late 2009, The Mark’s funders and senior stakeholders quickly realized that their first attempt at the website wasn’t fulfilling their needs. The Mark approached us with the challenge of redesigning their website in 5 person days or less. This project was not about re-inventing the wheel, it was about catching up to the well-established players in the existing market.

Project Components

To get the design of The Mark right, we knew that the bulk of our time would have to be spent iterating through a number of designs quickly. This meant employing an open, iterative and rapid design process that intimately involved project stakeholders at every step.

The project was run as a series of workshops and scheduled review sessions. Over a two week period, The Mark’s senior stakeholders were regular fixtures in our office. We spent one day in a Requirements Gathering Workshop where we were able to develop a deep understanding of the organization’s identity, short-term and long-term goals. From there we began to design the flows and interactions of the website, completing the project with visual design work that stands up and stands out against the competition.

Client Testimonial

“The Normative team was integral in helping us achieve our vision for The Mark News. They took the time to understand and translate our business needs and goals into first-class web experience for our readers despite the tight time constraints placed on them. In short, they have been an awesome partner.”

Jeff Anders CEO, The Mark News