And the winner is...

...ok, so while I did indeed win the Mindfield Sony SingStar Karaoke competition at Lollapalooza (prize: brand new PS3!), this post is not actually about me.
It’s about how the Drupal Association came to name Mark Boulton Design Ltd as their design partner in the Drupal.org redesign.

I have been tasked by the Drupal Association to manage their RFP process. No problem, just 3 easy steps:
Step 1: Write and issue the RFP.
Step 2: Find world-class firms willing to bid on it.
Step 3: Pick one.

That last step was a bit trickier than anticipated. The Association received six excellent proposals so the task of coming up with a recommendation was different than I'd anticipated. In previous RFPs that I've been involved with, there generally are one or two very clear leaders. With the Drupal RFP, it wasn't like that. At all.

While I can't tell you what firms did not get selected, I can tell you how Mark Boulton Design was.

After I reviewing the proposals, the question was how to evaluate them. As stated in the RFP, the selection criteria for the project are:

• Price/value quotient of the bid.
• Strength of design and research portfolio.
• Demonstrated experienced with the design of large-scale content management systems sites, especially Drupal.
• Professional stature of the creative team.
• Process methodologies and communication.
• Quality of RFP response itself.
• Quality of creative ideas in presentation.
• References/due diligence.

That is a great starting framework, but I needed to define what each one actually meant. Here’s what I came up with.

Cost
In order to compare apples-to-apples as much as possible, I considered the following project elements required (these were specified as required in the RFP):

• User research
• Information Architecture
• Wireframes
• Content audit
• Copywriting/editing (limited to content for www site)
• Concept development
• Usability report
• Layered Photoshop files for finalized design
• Brand style guide documentation

The costs of each proposal in this report have been adjusted to reflect those (and only those) elements. Where necessary, I followed up with the project teams for clarification.

Strength of portfolio
Has the firm designed clear, compelling modern brand experiences for projects of this scope that include dynamic user-created content and vast amounts of information? Looking for designs of large-scale content management systems sites, especially Drupal.

In implementation, the Drupal.org redesign project will have many phases, most of which will happen after the relaunch of the www.drupal.org site, which will be the primary focus of this redesign effort. The project will be conducted with an eye toward the interface requirements that the other subdomains will have, but a truly successful redesign will be flexible enough to integrate content components and features not yet defined.

Demonstrated experience
I was specifically looking for design firms that have experience creating flexible interface systems and documenting those brand, content and typographic standards in such a way that the in-house team (i.e., the Drupal community) can and will stick with them, extending the site after launch in a coherent, continually evolving way.

Since the community and those involved in the process from the Drupal project team side have an intimate understanding of the constraints and opportunities that Drupal offers from a theming and interface perspective, I felt it was more important to have experience with similar large-scale CMS-driven projects than Drupal-specific projects. (However, all three finalist teams interviewed have designed for Drupal before.)

Professional stature of the team
I was looking at who specifically would be involved with the project directly and their experience, reputation, etc.

Process methodologies and communication.
Each firm included their process and all firms included fairly comparable time lines around 3 months. All finalist firms had an iterative, research-based process. Most were waterfall, one was agile.

Quality of the response
All of the responses were the firms’ standard proposal format. While I certainly responded better to some layouts, I felt that they were all equally professional and responsive to the RFP. This was the least important criteria.

References/due diligence
The original timeline offered more time for interviews with references (we accelerated the decision process to facilitate the logistics involved to get the design partner to Szeged). Although I did follow-up and attempt to connect with references from each of the finalist teams by phone and e-mail (as available), I was not able to connect with any references.

That said, all of the firms who bid are well-known firms with excellent reputations and stellar portfolios. Had I connected with any of the references, my questions were tailored toward exploring the personality and approach of the firm, rather than their capabilities (that was a given).

Quality of creative ideas in presentation
Consistent with the ethical standards of AIGA, the professional association for design, the Drupal.org RFP did not solicit spec work.

I applied this criterion to the phone interviews I had with the three finalist firms.

Finalist interviews
I weighed cost, portfolio, scale/CMS and team as the most important of the criteria and, based on this, the field was narrowed to three firms with which I conducted phone interviews.

I had spoken with most of the teams as they prepared their bids (and answered tons of questions about Drupal, the community and this project), but this time, I was the one who got to ask the questions. The importance of this project to the community isn’t lost on me.

What was the firm’s approach? How well did the team understand the challenges and opportunities that confront the Drupal project today? What was the process like on comparable projects?

Recommendation to the Association
After the phone interviews, I was able to narrow the focus down to two firms, either of which would make an excellent choice.

My ultimate recommendation was for Mark Boulton Design. Mark and his experienced team will bring a sophisticated design eye and agile approach to clarifying who we are and what we want to say.

During the interview, Mark Boulton presented the most thoughtful and well-developed approach. The firm was enthusiastic and unwavering in their commitment to the project throughout the entire RFP process.

Since several different teams will be responsible for the implementation of this design, I felt that having a robust, flexible framework would be the most important outcome of this project. Mark Boulton Design was the firm that best understood this in their presentation and has the demonstrated experience in creating design interface systems for similar scope sites.

On August 4, the Drupal Association voted to select Mark Boulton Design, Ltd. as Drupal’s design partner. And now the work really begins. Trust me. It will be worth it.

P.S. Thanks
I have already expressed my gratitude individually to all those who help prepare the RFP and all of the firms that responded, but I want to publicly thank you all again here. The amount of commitment and passion for Drupal displayed by community members and RFP respondents alike continues to inspire.