Co-Creating the New Young Archaeologist's Website with placement Esmé Haigh

Hello, my name is Esmé Haigh. For the past few months I have been working as the YAC Website Development Placement alongside Amy.

When I first started my role as the placement, I wrote a blog about my background and my hopes for the website redevelopment process, (as well as my shoddy attempt at baking Anglo-Saxon oat cakes) which you can find here.

Now, halfway through my time at this post, I’d like to reflect on my experiences so far and provide an update on the first stages of the development to the people it matters most to – you, the YAC website users!

The main objective of the YAC website development project is to design a website which is much more accessible and user friendly than the current site which (as you’re probably aware of, being on said site) is a little clunky and outdated.

So, to ensure that the wishes of the YAC community were at the forefront of the redesign, we enlisted the help of several volunteer consultants who joined us in four ‘Co-Creation Sessions’. Our consultants ranged in diversity from past YAC members, current YAC Leaders, members of the CBA Young Associates and the Youth Advisory Board.

Over the course of the four Co-Creation Sessions, we delved into every aspect of the new website’s development. Together, the consultants selected the fonts, colours and menu options that would be used for the redesign as well as reviewing the wireframe, (the most basic mockup of the website) creating content and social media promotion strategies for the website launch.

It's safe to say that we covered a lot in the short time we spent together! I think all of the credit goes to our incredible consultants who were always ready, inspired and passionate about making the website the best it could be; and also the team at Progress Today, who facilitated the sessions and worked hard to make sure they were constantly fun and engaging.

Now that we’ve got the consensus from the most informed group of opinions, the next step in the website development process is the building and design of the site itself. We’re working with the talented developers at MeThree for this, and we’ve seen a ‘look and feel’ design, (the first design but without the interactive elements of a working website) for the homepage. Without giving too much away, I can tell you that the redesign is superb! Very colourful and engaging, but much more navigable and easy than the current layout.

Our Co-Creation group will reconvene in the autumn to test and review the new website before its launch. Then, the website will be yours!

So far, learning about website development and aiding in its process along with the great staff at the CBA has been so much fun and I couldn’t have asked for a better first job.

I’m very excited to see the end product of everyone’s time and effort and I am confident that the new site will serve its purpose as accessible and easy to use for everyone!