From the Video Vault
It’s been a great week for discovering randomly awesome video content made by colleges and universities. My favorites so far:
President’s Day at Macalester College.
A few years ago we did a consulting project for Macalester. As part of that project, I met with President Rosenberg - a really smart, really interesting, Dickens scholar. While it was clear at the time that he was a pretty funny guy, I had no idea he had something this hysterical up his sleeve:
Via Jill Grossman of Connecticut College (@jillgee).
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William & Mary provides an unexpected look at campus statuary.
There’s a top-secret area of the William & Mary website for those in the know. Once you’ve clicked on the hidden link (hint: it’s on the homepage) you’re brought to a page showcasing quirky videos by and about WM. The latest addition? Lord Botetourt Makes a Movie. Statuary on the WM campus comes to life to discuss making a movie about the Stamp Act.
The top-secret video vault is maintained by WM Creative Services (@wm_creative)
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OK Go’s newest music video features the Irish.
This one wasn’t produced by a college, but the Notre Dame Marching band is prominently featured. Good stuff.
OK Go - This Too Shall Pass from OK Go on Vimeo.
Via Laurel Hechenova who sits around the corner from me at the office (@hechanova)
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Don’t worry about Swine Flu… Worry about ZOMBIES!!!
Swine Flu is capturing a ton of media attention these days… Hopefully, there’s a very slim chance that this super-epi-pandemic arrives at your campus any time soon. But zombies? They’re likely already there.
More and more college campuses are being invaded by Humans vs. Zombies. HvZ is essentially a complicated version of ‘tag’ that involves scores of college kids careening through campus in a desperate attempt to avoid being turned into zombies (or in a desperate attempt to turn the other ‘human’ competitors into zombies). HvZ is spreading across the nation at a rate rivaled only by the aforementioned pork virus.
Why should you care? Because the crux of the HvZ debate is, where (if at all) does an institution draw a line between student activities and something that (to a casual passerby) might be misconstrued as some sort of chaotic, relatively inexplicable, armed uprising.
To quote a recent article posted on Boston.com:
“The game provides students with a distraction from studies as they chase one another from classroom buildings to dorms. Students say HvZ is a healthy way to keep them on campus on the weekends and away from drinking. But the game has come under scrutiny. Reports of large groups of students wearing bandannas and shouldering 2-foot toy guns have alarmed passersby on some campuses. The game has been banned at some schools, including Butler University and Washington State University.”
So what do you think? Harmless diversion or armed rebellion in need of some quashing? I think it’s the former but am up for a healthy debate.
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Discuss this article (3)Groundwork: Outline Your Redesign Goals
Highly visible stuff everyone will notice:
- Intuitive, scalable IA that makes navigating the site easy
- Fresh, compelling design that feels like the college
- Inviting, engaging content that reflects the personality of the college
- Powerful, user-friendly publishing that enables content contribution
Does anyone not want these things? Every college web project (heck, every web project) should have these four goals someplace near the top of the priority list. But to what end? If we’re overhauling the IA to make the site easy to navigate, what are we hoping visitors will find? If we’re redesigning and rewriting the site to provoke an emotion what do we want the outcome of that emotion to be? Basically, building the super-duper new site on a slick new CMS is half the battle. The othe half?
Less interesting stuff we’ll ultimately need to address in order to prove that the website redesign was actually successful:
- Usability (Is the site simpler to use? Are critical paths easier to navigate? Have page visits to key areas of the site increased? How do we know?)
- Stickiness (Do visitors return to the site more often? Do they stay longer? Do they sent content to friends / parents?)
- Branding (What do our core audiences say about the new site? What are they doing online? What are they thinking about us?)
- Recruiting (Did online application numbers jump? What about site traffic and stickiness for admissions & yield-related pages?)
- Giving (Did we see growth in online dollars? Number of online gifts or online donors? Growth in average gift size?)
- Engagement (Did participation rates in online communities increase? Was there an increase in event attendance or alumni giving?)
When putting together your goals for a website redesign, I’d argue that you need to prioritize the latter list (usability, recruiting, etc) according to your institutional needs. And then use the highly visible fun stuff (design, content, etc) to facilitate all of the outcomes you deem most important.
It’s not enough that your new site look cool and be fun to read, it also needs to drive the audience(s) you deem most important toward taking the action(s) you deem most critical.
Get all your goals on paper early and figure out how you’ll measure progress. That way when your site has been running for a few months and someone tells you how great it looks you can tell them about the 22% spike in admission applications it’s generated too.
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Discuss this article (0)Proust Questionnaire: Nancy Prater, Ball State University
When the fine folks at Ball State University joined forces with the mStoner crew to reinvent the BSU.edu website, Nancy Prater led the charge. Responsible for the internal Ball State team as well as an unruly crew of mStonerites, she kept the project moving forward and focused on the big picture goals. The result? An easy (and fun) to use website, happy on-campus constituents, and a bunch of awards. The secret of her success:
What was the scope of your project?
Big and ambitious. We had several factors coming together at once that impacted the scope of our relaunch. We jokingly described this as our perfect storm:
- The university adopted a new strategic plan and launched a new branding initiative
- Our Web design did not reflect the quality of the Ball State experience
- Our site architecture had evolved over time without a plan
How did you construct your core team?
The project was initiated through Enrollment, Marketing, and Communications, so the leaders of our relaunch team came from there. Key players and decisions makers included our vice president, marketing director, myself (web coordinator), and web managing editor. Plus, our lead programmer from Information Technology was also a key member of our core team. We also had support from the mStoner team for all aspects of our relaunch. And, because it truly takes a village to build a Web site, I always considered our various writers, photographers, designers, content migrators, and our CMS trainer as key to our relaunch sucess.
How much time did you spend, on average, in the course of a week throughout your project?
A lot. Okay, some of you may want specifics. During the early stages of the project, it was about 25-50 percent of mine and our web managing editor’s time. During the last six months or so, it was nearly 100 percent, with about 50 percent more going to daily maintenance of the old site. (Yes, those numbers don’t add up, so you can get the idea that you will put in some overtime).
How did you manage internal communications?
This was one of the most important aspects because our web site impacts everyone on campus and change (even good change) is never easy. We took a multi-prong approach that included meetings or presentations (loads of them) with various stakeholders at key touchpoints throughout the process, a project blog, e-mail updates, product demos, online surveys, and focus groups. Transparency was a main goal.
How long did the project last?
About 18 months from the planning stages to the initial launch of top-level pages on the site, plus Admissions, Financial Aid, and a sample academic department site. Of course, lots of work is continuing as the 220+ sites that need to be migrated to the new CMS (which includes re-architecting, writing content, and taking photographs for all of them) will be continuing for the next two years or so.
When did you go live?
October 1, 2007. The week before the go-live date, we had a “soft launch” where we allowed internal and external audiences to preview the new site and provide comments. The response to this was great both in numbers of comments and favorable feedback. This went a long way in helping our internal audiences get acquainted with the site, rather than experiencing a sudden, abrupt change on launch day.
Biggest surprise?
We always tried for “no surprises,” and I think we came very close. Because Marketing and Communications already works with so many people across campus and we had regular contact with many of our nearly 600+ campus web editors, and because we had so many touchpoints for communication during the relaunch, we knew where the potential landmines were.
Tallest hurdle?
The scope. As project manager there were hundreds of details to be concerned with every day. Plus, it is easy for plans to grow larger than what you can really accomplish by launch date. Make sure you are careful about scope creep, and don’t be afraid to scale back. Better to do a few things great, than a lot of things poorly.
Aha moment?
I had a big one during the planning phase. We held some focus groups with students where were trying to understand what they want and need most from their university web site. I learned that students don’t primarily view web sites as a place to get information, but rather as a destination to get things done. Their expectations of what they should be able to do on a university web site are extremely high. It goes beyond their desire for it to look good and be consistent in its navigation. While our relaunch obviously focused on information presentation, I know that in the future we need to focus more on developing web services to improve students’ campus experience.
Finish this sentence: I’ll never again ________________.
…work on a Ball State web site that is not aligned strategically to the university’s mission and brand.
All official university sites are now required to use the CMS and be aligned with the university’s brand. New policies, approved by the president and cabinet during the relaunch process, spell this out. The result is a site that is easier to navigate, consistently communicates the Ball State brand, and is easier to maintain.
Finish this sentence: I’m so glad that ________________.
…we incorporated stories into our site.
Our site is sprinkled with stories about students, faculty, and alumni. These stories emphasize key aspects of the Ball State experience in ways that other copy cannot. On campus, I hear people say things like,
“I saw that story about …”
So, not only are we reaching external audiences, we are quietly building a group of internal “brand ambassadors” who know our stories and can relate them to others. Priceless.
How are you measuring success?
Of course there are the usual measures like looking at web traffic and anecdotal evidence like the great feedback we have received from internal and external audiences, including the high marks we received in a summer survey of freshmen and their parents. But, results are obviously the most important indicator of success. In the last two years, our undergraduate applications are up 38 percent and we have seen an increase in the size of the freshman class and admission standards. Of course, many things beyond just the new web site are impacting those numbers, but we believe the web site is a significant contributor.
Good deed not left unpunished?
Well, we have been pretty successful, and I suppose that is why I was asked to fill out this long questionnaire. Does that count?
Posted by Patrick DiMichele
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Discuss this article (0)Groundwork: Form a Web Advisory Committee
Starting an institutional website redesign? Form a WAC.
I know, I know… just what you need, more meetings. Hear me out, for your redesign effort to be successful you’re going to need buy-in and support from across the organization, not just from your department or from your boss. So take the time at the beginning of the project to ensure that all the right (read: politically necessary) people are at the table when things get started. It’ll make it that much easier to keep the proverbial train rolling once it leaves the station.
So who’s the right group? I’d say you’ll need representatives from:
- Marketing / Communications
- Admissions
- Advancement
- Alumni Relations
- Student Affairs
- Information Technology
- Academic departments
- Students
- Faculty members
Depending on the specific quirks of your school you might need to include a few more people. Yes, that’s a lot of people. And yes, getting them in the same place at the same time is going to be a pain. But in order for this committee to have the stature necessary to get anything done it’ll need to include a representative cross-section of the needs / wants and hopes / fears of the college.
Specifically, you’ll eventually want the WAC to:
- Ratify the goals for the redesign (the next post in this series)
- Prioritize website audiences
- Review the information architecture
- Approve technology selection process / acquisition
- Select a design direction (with input from the target audiences)
- Formalize the tone of the website content
- Set policies and procedures governing website usage / publication
Essentially the WAC should become your supreme court of all matters related to the interwebs. It’ll make key decisions related to stuff like the look, feel and technical underpinning of the website as well as decisions about things like the policies related to blogging, template usage and ownership. Plus, since you’ll be meeting with the committee every couple weeks to provide a progress report it’ll keep you moving along the project plan (see: the forthcoming ‘Plan of Attack’ blog posts).
Want to see a real-work example of a fantastic WAC in action? William & Mary kept a website redesign blog and have lots of posts related to their committee. Check it.
Posted by Patrick DiMichele
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Discuss this article (1)DIY College Website Redesign
(The kick-off of an ongoing series…)
With shrinking endowments, budget cuts and hiring freezes (or worse) fewer institutions are in a position to hire a hot-shot consulting or design firm to tackle all aspects of a far-reaching strategy / ia / design / content / html / cms implementation type of project.
Instead, colleges and universities (at least many of the folks we’re talking to lately) are looking for ways to do more with limited resources, which often means dividing work between internal teams and consultants like us. Partially to shave costs, partially to build internal capacity and partially just because a website redeployment is a lot of fun (really!). Sometimes we’ll do strategy and design and the college project team will handle writing and programming. Or the opposite. Or a completely different division of labor. The idea is to meet the client where they are: relying on their strengths, filling in gaps where additional expertise is needed.
But… in order for this divide / conquer approach to actually work (and to result in an actually great website) everybody needs an understanding of the nature of the work involved. So over the next few months we’re going to explain — in excruciating detail — the steps we run through in a “typical” website redesign (from initial planning to post-launch debrief meetings).
If you’re running your own project and this helps you keep it all straight, excellent. If you’re considering working with mStoner, it’s important to understand exactly how we work so you can determine what makes sense for you to do and what for us to do. No matter what, if you know up front all that’s involved in your big ol’ redesign then you can make some informed decisions about what to tackle on your own and when (if at all) to look for outside expertise.
The outline of our DIY Website Redesign guide looks like this:
- Groundwork
- Plan of Attack
- Design
- Content
- Technology
- Policies & Procedures
- Training Programs
- Sustainability
And, starting tomorrow we’re running through ‘Groundwork’ (probably an 8-part series).
Details to follow…
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Discuss this article (1)Finding Inspiration
The main thing mStoner does is make websites, usually for schools. To keep up with design, IA and messaging trends I look at lots and lots (and lots) of college websites. Plus it gives me a great opportunity to steal be inspired by the things that have been done well.
But lately I’ve been looking at piles of websites (can you pile websites?) that have nothing at all to do with education. Sites that are doing interesting things in interesting ways. And trying to figure out how to steal gain inspiration from those sites too.
You’ve likely seen lots of these already but they’re new(ish) to me and I’m excited about them:
FFFFound!
It’s ffffantastic. (Get it? I’m funny.) The website is kinda like Flickr — but instead of posting photos you’ve taken yourself, you’re posting photos and graphics you’ve (fff)found. As a result, the range of “topics” covered expands wildly, the conversations between users are much more interesting and the ‘related images’ are downright bizarre. Good stuff.
I Want You To Want Me
Jonathan Harris is one of my favorite contemporary artists / designers. And he’s Princeton grad (fun fact: the Department of Psychology website Jonathan designed as an undergrad is still up and running). Anyway, he paired up with Sep Kamvar to create a super-fantastic interactive installation at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. The exhibition is over but you can play with a web-based version online. It explores the ways people with profiles at online dating websites go about presenting themselves. I spent a long time failing to come up with a pithy Cheap Trick reference to close out this paragraph.
30 Reasons
You may have heard that the junior senator from Illinois is running for President. To highlight that candidacy, 30Reasons.org has been unveiling a new poster supporting Barack Obama for the thirty days leading up to the election. Not all of the posters are great, but I check in on the website every day to see the latest post.
Happy clicking!
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Discuss this article (0)How unique should your institution’s website really be?
Potential Client: “Do you have an existing information architecture template that you use for a college that you’ll simply apply to our school?”
Me: “Nope. But what we do have is lots of experience doing this and a lot of ideas about how to initially create the framework for an IA that flexible, scalable and most importantly understandable. Some percentage of it is the same as other school websites (and should be) and some percentage is entirely unique to your school (and also should be).”
Potential Client: “I see. What percentage of our information architecture should be the same as other schools and what percentage should be totally unique?”
Me: “Ummm…”
I have to admit that I’d never thought about IA in terms of absolute percentages before. Since that question though, I’ve thought about it a lot. Here’s what I’ve come up with:
The top-level information architecture of your website should be 2/3 the same as other schools and 1/3 unique to your school. That’s obviously not set in stone but I think it’s a helpful guide for thinking about the global navigation of your site.
Let’s assume your site is composed of three types of navigation: topic-based, audience-based and task-based. If those three things are in place you can begin to figure out what should follow the model of other schools and what should be distinctly your own.
Topic-based
Schools interested in reaching prospective students should ALL have the following links in their topic nav:
About Us
Academics
Admission
Campus Life (or something of the sort)
News & Events
Giving (or something of the sort)
Once the basics are covered it’s more a matter of choosing what’s right for a given institution. If sports are a reasonably large part of the on campus experience then ‘Athletics’ should have a place in the navigation. We also place ‘Research’ in the topic-based navigation for many clients. And in the past we’ve included ‘Arts’, ‘Institutes’, ‘Service’ and/or ‘Libraries’. The idea being, we’re sure that the first six links listed are necessities - from there it’s much more a matter of which links belong on your top-level navigation. And that’s a decision that driven by the messages you’re trying to send prospective students, the personality of your school, the goals of your website and the tasks you’re trying to facilitate.
Audience-based
Should definitely have:
Current Students
Faculty & Staff
Parents
Alumni
After that, it’s wide open. in previous projects we’ve included, “Neighbors”, “Business Community”, “Managing Committee” and countless others. Once you’ve done the work of identifying your audiences it makes sense to highlight them prominently on navigation of this sort. And yes, the omission of a ‘Prospective Students’ link was intentional.
Task-based
This navigation is a whole lot less prescriptive than the other types. It should include a link to ‘Contact’ and a link to ‘Search’. Other than that it should include as many other links to get stuff done as you have. “Apply Online”, “Directory”, “Site Map”, etc.
Obviously this is just the tip of the proverbial ice-burg but I think it’s a nice, neutral place to start a discussion about information architecture for a school’s global navigation.
Later in the same conversation with the potential client we talked about how these percentages might apply to design. What percentage of the design should look like other schools? What percentage should be totally different? That response merits a blog posting of its own - which is forthcoming.
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