The Center for Community Arts Partnerships (CCAP) is seeking proposals from web designers to build an online resource website. The website will serve as a digital archive for CCAP's programs, housing lesson plans, curriculum materials, videos and student projects. It will focus initially on CCAP's TEAM program but be expandable for other initiatives. The website must be accessible, searchable, and allow for easy updating. Proposals are due October 7th and should include details on the design and development process, timelines, costs and examples of previous educational websites. CCAP will select a designer based on their experience building content-rich and expandable websites.

1. Request for Proposals:
Web Designer – CCAP Resource
Website
Issued: September 16, 2013
Due: October 7, 2013
Center for Community Arts Partnerships (CCAP) at Columbia College Chicago
600 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60605 - www.colum.edu/CCAP/

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Background of Organization 3
Proposal Purpose and Objectives 5
Website Project Description 7
Proposal Information 9
Format for Proposals 10
Proposal Selection Criteria 11
Contact Information 12
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3. Background of Organization
CCAP
The Center for Community Arts Partnerships (CCAP) was established in 1998 at
Columbia College Chicago to create a formal infrastructure through which faculty,
students, and administration could fulfill the College’s mission of civic engagement.
CCAP draws on the College’s expertise as the nation’s largest arts, media and
communications college to create model arts-based educational and enrichment
programs for underserved children and youth in Chicago. CCAP is committed to
transforming lives through the arts.
TEAM
Transforming Education through the Arts & Media (TEAM) is a federally-funded arts
integration initiative of CCAP that focuses exclusively on new and digital media.
TEAM matches Columbia College media arts faculty and students with 7th and 8th
grade Chicago Public School (CPS) teachers to co-create 14-week residencies that
weave together digital media with subjects like science, math, language arts, and
social studies. CCAP believes that integrating technology and digital media arts into
the core curriculum prepares students for the 21st century.
TEAM seeks to accomplish the following goals:
• Nurture partnerships between Columbia College and Chicago Public Schools
• Increase student achievement in math and reading
• Deepen student engagement and boost their motivation to learn and create
• Build the skills of classroom teachers to integrate art and technology into their
academic lessons
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4. TEAM, funded through the Department of Education, is rooted in the value of
Transliteracy in the 21st Century. With the rising ubiquity and accessibility of all types
of media, the definition of literacy has changed. It is no longer enough for a young
person to be able to read words on a page; he must be able to “read” images,
systems, platforms, and ever-evolving modes of communication. In the reality of Web
2.0, young people can be contributors to a worldwide conversation with the click of
button. TEAM hopes to empower young people to read, write, and create fluently,
fluidly, critically, and meaningfully across this dynamic landscape.
TEAM also explores the ways the education field can translate the strategies of pop
culture into the classroom and discover new ways of deeply engaging students in
thinking and learning. Teachers and students learn to use blogging, filmmaking,
photography, web design, audio arts, gaming, and other technology-based art forms
to gain a more meaningful understanding of academic content and the world around
them.
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5. Proposal Purpose and Objectives
CCAP is in need of a comprehensive website to house its catalogue of programmatic
materials and resources. CCAP envisions this particular website as an online
repository, a “library” of its reports, lesson plans, curriculum, videos, and more.
At present, CCAP runs nearly 15 initiatives/programs, including TEAM. As TEAM is in
its last year of current programming, significant content deliverables will begin to be
completed and need an online home. Also, the TEAM initiative encompasses the
principle of digital integration and the role of advanced technology within learning.
We would therefore like to use TEAM (and its work) as the prototype for CCAP’s new
resource website.
Website Goals
• The site should be built as a Center-wide CCAP tool and be evergreen. Upon
its initial completion at the end of this process, the website will focus on TEAM
and its materials but be able to be built out for CCAP’s other programs (past,
present, and future).
• The website should be a publicly accessible digital archive focusing on
curriculum, creation, and impact.
• The site should function as a searchable database.
• The site’s design should focus on ease for the end user and functionality, as
well as be aesthetically pleasing.
• The user experience should be aligned with the basic tenets of digital media
literacy, social media, and digital citizenship.
This site will advance CCAP’s objective to further itself as a recognized expert and
resource for education, arts, and media. CCAP wants to better present both
aggregate and original content, documentation, and completed student projects in
this new online atelier.
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6. Web Designer Request
We have created this Request for Proposals to invite candidates in the Chicago area
to assist in the development of this website. CCAP is seeking candidates with a
background in web design, digital learning, and education. We are specifically
interested in candidates with demonstrated understanding of content-heavy
websites, archival websites, or online resource databases. Lastly, CCAP will give
preference to web designers with experience building websites that are able to be
expanded as organizations/programs grow.
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7. Website Project Description
Website Audience
CCAP expects the primary audience of its new resource website will consist of
teachers, educators, education administrators, teaching artists, parents, and the art
community at large. Our potential secondary audience will be curriculum designers,
classroom technologists, and other digital experts.
Website Specifications
• Clean, contemporary design with a short page and/or limited scrolling;
• Intuitive and easy navigation with a site structure that does not require multiple
clicks to reach desired page;
• Detailed menus with hover-over options (no Flash plug-in necessary),
preferably at top
• Integrates common analytics and customer satisfaction tools such as Google
Analytics, WebTrends, or 4Q;
• Incorporates social tools such as blogging, tagging, and integration with third-
party social networks;
• Functions on Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and standard mobile and Internet
browsers, including:
o Internet Explorer 7 and 8
o Firefox (latest version at time of development)
o Google Chrome (latest version at time of development)
o Safari (latest version at time of development)
o Opera (latest version at time of development)
• Gives prominence to online resources, downloadable lesson plans/curriculum,
links and upcoming events;
• Incorporate dynamic data feeds to display upcoming events as well as item
information from our database and blog posts, etc., giving staff the ability to
easily update information on the homepage
• Incorporate Responsive Web Design, allowing good functionally of website on
desktop computers to mobile phones
• Provide training for key staff in updating and maintenance of website
• Consulting support for optimal hosting options and statistics gathering
• Work with Columbia College’s IT and Creative Services department to address
database housing/hosting
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8. Budget
TO BE DETERMINED
Tentative Timeline
Main Tasks Due Date
1. Face-to-face “kickoff” meeting with CCAP and TEAM
program staff at Columbia College
Within 7 calendar days
after contract award
2. Provide a comprehensive contract milestone Project
Plan with specific dates for all deliverables
Within 5 business days
of kickoff meeting
3. Participate in conference calls as needed TBD*
4. Provide written weekly status reports TBD*
5. Provide summary of design goals, content, and
functional requirements
November 15, 2013
6. Provide hierarchical map of site with global and local
navigation
December, 13 2013
7. Provide layout grids and design sketches (two to three
home page concepts; four to six interior designs)
January 14, 2014
8. Provide first draft designs January 31, 2014
9. Provide second draft designs February 21, 2014
10. Provide final designs March 7, 2014
11. Deliver HTML/CSS templates & style guide April 4, 2014
12. Set up a staging environment and migrate existing
content into the new templates
April 25, 2014
13. Proof and edit the new web pages in the staging
environment
May 16, 2014
14. Conduct a quality assurance check of all links and
navigation in the staging environment
June 13, 2014
15. Press release and official production launch July 1, 2014
Document Deliverables Due Date
1. Creative brief & creative design presentation Kickoff Meeting
2. Information architecture December 13, 2014
3. Wireframes January 14, 2014
4. Functional design document February 21, 2014
5. Site map April 25, 2014
6. Baseline version control documentation (site
configuration)
May 16, 2014
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9. Proposal Information
Proposal Requirements
The Web Designer [Contractor] shall provide comprehensive project management
services to initiate, plan, execute, manage, monitor, and coordinate the project,
including providing a project plan to ensure CCAP and Contractor deliverables are
outlined and agreed upon, to include such things as:
• Requirements Gathering and Functional Specifications
• Information Architecture
• Content Consultation & Copywriting
• Creative Design Consulting & Presentation
• Search Engine Optimization
• Implementation
• Quality Assurance and Testing
• Weekly status updates throughout the development period.
• Description of your experience in producing sites for educational, academic
and/or community-focused websites
• Overview of your development process
• Proposed timeline
• Outline of pricing and total cost of project
• Basic wireframes of proposed site layout
• Basic website brand style guide (typography & header lockup)
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10. Format for Proposals
1. Executive Summary
2. Technical Volume
a. Web development process: explain the process you will follow to build the
Web site, including major milestones and evaluation
b.Address usability standards and testing
c. Address any important technology information and specifications used in
your solution (languages, platform, etc.)
3. Management Volume
a. Organizational structure: communication process; including lines of
reporting and any special tools used.
b.Schedule of deliverables; include major milestones and testing proposal.
4. Budget Volume
a. Break down cost by production hours, tools and functionalities
b.Maintenance and support: ID any costs that should be assumed as part of
the site and ongoing costs for maintenance and support we need in the
future.
c. License fees: ID the costs we will need to pay to develop or host the site.
d.Hosting: ID whether we must or are highly encouraged to host with your
company. If hosting is provided as an option or requirement, provide pricing
options.
e.Training and Style Guide: ID costs to train our staff to use site tools and
provide a style guide.
f. Other charge areas: Please ID whether there will be other expenses,
consulting fees, future work, etc., to complete this project.
5. Attachments
a. Qualifications and Experience: relevant case histories with information on
accessing online demos or examples
b.Biographies of all who will work on account
c. Professional references.
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11. Proposal Selection Criteria
Proposals will be evaluated on the following criteria, including but not limited to:
• Quality of portfolio of projects (attractiveness of design, function, and
accessibility in provided website design examples)
• Understanding of modern trends in design and development (HTML5, CSS3,
Responsive Web Design)
• Understanding of web standards and usability
• Experience with CMS’s and customization of themes
‣Content Management System on popular platform such as Wordpress,
Joomla or Drupal
‣HTML5
‣Basic Responsive Framework
‣W3C Compliant
• References from previous clients
• Cost
• Demonstrated experience managing projects of this nature
• The creative and design contractor shall specifically have:
‣ A strong web design and marketing background;
‣ Website information architecture capabilities to create navigation, build
page mockups in HTML or favorite graphics program;
‣ Development capabilities to prepare, test and launch the new website;
‣ A clear understanding of color, visual design and layout skills;
‣ Good information organization skills;
‣ Good understanding of modern web development techniques
including HTML, cascading style sheets, the process of developing with
web standards (http://www.webstandards.org/), progressive
enhancement, etc.
‣ Strong customer service skills and marketing experience;
‣ Knowledge of usability testing and accessibility issues; and
‣ Quality assurance skills and ability to troubleshoot problems.
‣ Familiar with jquery library
‣ Familiar with Google webfonts
‣ Familiar with general framework optimization
‣ Familiar with general UX (user experience) practices
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12. Contact Information
J. Johari Palacio
600 S. Michigan
Chicago, IL, 60605
T 312-369-8861
http://www.colum.edu/CCAP/Programs/TEAM/
team@colum.edu
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