Greetings Unto the Good People of the East!

I write to you today as the new Deputy Kingdom Webminister for Design. As you know the webministry is in the process of significant upgrades to our systems. This will include our EastKingdom.org site. I’d like to talk to you about plans and opportunities for participation. 

Technology evolves rapidly. One goal will be to migrate the site onto a new platform which is in line with current best practices and usability. That will be managed by the Webministry. Where we would like to invite members of the populace to contribute is the “look and feel” of the new site. Come the New Year I will be seeking submissions for a new visual design for www.eastkingdom.org. I tell you now NOT to overburden anyone at this busy time of year, but to plant a seed that may germinate in your minds.

Further details for those who may be interested in participating:

• I will draft the guidelines and finalize requirements with the webministry staff during December/early January.
• By mid-January provide the requirements and scope of the project/ high-level information architecture along with any rules. Take public questions from then until submissions open.
• By Birka, begin accepting design submissions and accept them through the end of February.
  • During the visual design submission timeframe I will be working with select webministers and content owners on eastkingdom.org (NOT yet all of the sub-sites) to plan the content organization and text. Surveys will be shared to gather populace needs and opinions as well as looking at metrics in the various logs our servers keep.
• During March, we will pare down the designs to those that best meet the requirements and then gather our panel of judges to discuss their feedback and make a selection. The panel will be comprised of Their Majesties, Their Highnesses, our Kingdom MoAS, and myself. We will notify all parties of the selection.
• In April, begin working with the winning team on implementing the design on a development site.
• Debut the new site at the 50th Celebrations in June.

If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to write to me at web-design@eastkingdom.org. I will do my best to answer questions – or develop answers – as we move this process along.

Yours in service to Kingdom and Crown,

Baroness Christina Jenevra de Carvalhal