Freelance Interaction Designer for Website Redesign

Budget: Don't Know

Timeline: July 15-August 31 (with possible follow-up/tweaks after testing) Client: Acumen, LLC is a research and consulting group that provides information and technical assistance to government agencies and policymakers. The bulk of our work is in health and human services. Project: Acumen currently serves as the risk management contractor for the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS). DDS is a state agency that funds and oversees statewide programs for people with developmental disabilities (such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation, epilepsy, etc.)  As part of this contract, we host and create content for a website called DDS SafetyNet (www.DDSSafety.net).  SafetyNet is aimed at people with developmental disabilities (consumers) and their families and support staff. It provides health and safety information. Topics are chosen based on the risks that consumers face in their daily lives (these risks are identified by data analyses that we perform for other parts of our contracts with DDS). The current website is too cluttered (which makes it hard to use for people with low vision cognition capabilities), and is not easy to navigate (which is a problem for all users). Further, the back-end is rigid and does not support what we would like to be a more flexible and intuitive front-end.  We are redesigning the back-end internally to support a more flexible structure, but we need consultation on how to present the new information to users. Our clients (DDS) are happy with the current color scheme and graphical elements of the website, so the redesign of the front end will focus on user flow, layout, and other non-graphical elements. We are, however, flexible regarding developing additional web graphics and can provide original Photoshop and Illustrator files of existing graphics if requested. The final deliverables must be built to current standards for code and accessibility and be compliant under Section 508 (we can provide consultation on what this means if you are not familiar with 508 compliance). We envision two stages to the involvement of an interaction designer. In the first stage, the designer would create layouts for all views/pages. Our website team would then output HTML code to fit these layouts. In the second stage, the designer would create cascading style sheets to apply to the HTML. Preference will be given to designers with a background in interaction design or a history of quality user experience work. Deliverables:

1. Wire frames for all website views/pages, completed by early August
2. CSS for all website views/pages which can be applied to the HTML, completed by late August

Pay structure: Flexible – either hourly with a fixed maximum, or a lump sum based on the deliverables listed above (please respond with an estimate in whichever format you prefer). Desired skills

• Fluency with modern standards-compliant code (HTML and CSS).
• Knowledge of accessibility standards (knowledge of Section 508 helpful but not required).
• Experience editing and developing web graphics and applying presentation through CSS.
• Experience with interaction design or user experience development.

Please provide a link to your portfolio.