I’m pleased to announce that after much consideration, the web redesign selection committee has chosen White Whale Web Services as the consultant for the University of Waterloo web redesign project.
 
Their portfolio includes university-wide site redesigns and major projects for Kenyon College, UC Berkeley, Lewis & Clark, Brown University, Duke University, MIT, and Haverford College, among many others; their recent and current clients include Middlebury College, Wheaton College and the University of San Francisco. In addition to this expertise, the White Whale team is very active in higher education web circles as well as in the social media domain.
 
White Whale was chosen from a number responses to a "Request for Proposal" (see previous post) issued through the university’s Procurement and Contract Services department. While procurement policies mean that the details of the selection process must remain confidential, the selection committee carefully reviewed the submissions and interviewed several firms. I was on the committee and was impressed with the quality of the applications we received.
 
The selection was based on a number of criteria including: qualifications, approach, experience, and pricing. White Whale scored the highest overall and was deemed to be the best fit to meet Waterloo’s goal to have an innovative, unconventional and engaging website, all while ensuring the overall usability and accessibility of our site.

Upon surveying the other institutions that had worked with White Whale in the past, it became clear that their leadership, breadth of experience, collaborative nature, and thoroughness are going to be a great asset to the Waterloo redesign project. White Whale will be working very closely with a number of team members on campus including graphics, Communications and Public Affairs, and a number of other key stakeholders.
 
Schedule details have not yet been set but we hope to have White Whale on campus in January. During this time, there will be an opportunity for an open forum for those who do not have scheduled meetings with the team.
 
We look forward to working with the White Whale team and creating an engaging and usable new web site for the University of Waterloo.