Introducing “Faces of Saint Anselm”
BarkleyREI has designed an engaging Flash piece that will be used in the right sidebar of the redesigned Web site to present profiles of current students, faculty, and alumni across the site. Internally, we’ve been calling it “Faces” for some time now. We think BarkleyREI has done a great job in designing this particular Flash application and we are looking forward to using it as it will allow us to display profiles in a new and more interactive way.
Faces Overview
As described above, the “Faces” Flash piece will live within the right sidebar of select pages throughout the site. When clicked on, an overlay will open above the page. Each profile will include name, class year, major, a short text profile, and “Dig Deeper” links, which will link people to relevant Web pages within the Saint Anselm Web site. Each profile will include either a photo gallery of images (relevant to the person profiled) or a single video or audio/photo slide show.
Web Usability Testing of Current and Prospective Students
This week we are conducting Web usability testing on the new site design with current and prospective students. We had two people from BarkleyREI on campus on Tuesday to test the new site with current students and we are testing prospective students at BarkleyREI’s headquarters in Pittsburgh throughout the week.
Before I get into it, I suppose I should explain what usability testing is and why we are doing it (and why it is really important). Web usability guru Jakob Nielsen describes usability testing as “a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use. The word “usability” also refers to methods for improving ease-of-use during the design process.”
The aim of our usability testing is to evaluate the new Web site design and information architecture with end users. Up until this point we’ve followed industry best practices in developing our site strategy, the site’s information architecture, and in designing the user interface for the site. So each step of the way we’ve made numerous assumptions and usability testing allows use to get direct input on how real users of the site think and respond to the design, content, and how we’ve organized the site. Does the site meet it’s intended purposes, what is its ease of use (in particular sections or as a whole), are users in each group able to complete expected site tasks, are we seeing any trends from one user test to the next.
Level Page Design Comps
Since the approval of the new home page design, we’ve been working with BarkleyREI on designs for lower level page templates. You will see several recognizable design elements that are being carried over from the new college home page design — the color palette, the blue page background gradient, header and global navigation, and the super footer.
Please keep in mind that the photos used in these design comps are only placeholders as is the Latin text used for filler. Also, we’ve overfilled the right sidebar to show multiple options available for displaying column call outs.
At this stage, BarkleyREI presented us with two unique design approaches for the level page templates. One design saw the color red introduced to the color palette (the same red used on the current site). After seeking feedback from several offices, we decided that the introduction of red to the color palette was a sharp departure from the color palette used for the new home page. So we have stayed with a mostly blue color palette in the level page designs.
New Home Page Design Concept
After more than a month of work, multiple design concepts and revisions, and input from prospective students and many staff and administrators from across the college, we are pleased to unveil the new Saint Anselm College home page design.
During this stage in the project, BarkleyREI presented us with four distinct home page concepts for review. Each concept featured a Flash multimedia area at the center of the home page focused on telling stories using video, photo/audio slide shows, and photo galleries. Based on the feedback we gathered during the initial review of the four design concepts, we narrowed our choice to a single design, what we are calling “The Wall” concept. We then made changes to the design’s final color palette, the number of stories presented, interactive elements, font sizes, logo treatment, etc.
Home Page Wireframe, Site Map, and Content Outline
Over the course of last month and half we’ve been hard at work on several fronts with the redesign project. First, we worked with BarkleyREI to finalize the information architecture (aka site map) for the college site. We also completed the site content outline, which is a more comprehensive outline of the site’s higher level pages with detailed notes.
Lastly, we completed work on the home page wireframe, a visual representation of the home page we finish before we begin any design work. The wireframe defines what will go on the home page, including primary, secondary, and tertiary navigation, footer, call outs, search box, news and calendar listings, and multimedia features. Over the course of this work we sought and received input from several offices and have appreciated their feedback.
Overcoming Silos
Early on in our redesign project when we were selecting a Web firm, we received feedback from several companies that our Web site information architecture was strong, but was very siloed. We spend a lot of time on our current Web site directing visitors to one department or another for Web information. The thing to keep in mind is that our Web visitors should not have to learn our organizational structure to find information about us. With this in mind, we spent a lot of time developing the site’s information architecture to have it be more topic based and building stronger landing pages for the site’s target audiences – current students, parents and families, alumni, businesses and community, and faculty and staff.
It’s important to note that the primary audience for the college Web site is prospective students, an external audience that is least familiar with the college’s organizational structure and an audience where topic-based navigation is a better approach.
Next Steps
With the home page wireframe, content outline, and site map now complete, we now move on to the next project priorities:
- Home page design concepts - BarkleyREI will present us with four design concepts for review
- Lower level wireframes – defining what will be included on all landing pages and major sites linked off the college home page
- Content migration tracker – a spreadsheet tracking all content that will be migrated from the current site to the new site
- Site application inventory - an inventory of all scripts, applications, and forms that will carry over to the new site and require development or template skinning
- Ingeniux application handling - Determine which applications and functionality will be handled within the Ingeniux CMS and those that will require custom development.
We also recently installed a new CMS export tool on our Web server that will allow us to easily export all current CMS content as plain text in a directory structure. Pages in the new CMS will be coded to XHTML Transitional, so much of the formating on our current site will be stripped out to remain complaint with the new document type.
Ingeniux Selected as New Content Management System
I’m pleased to announce that we have selected Ingeniux as our new content management system (CMS). The selection comes after nearly eight weeks of work and with considerable assistance and input from our Web vendor, BarkleyREI, and the CMS Selection Group, which included staff, faculty, and student representation.
The CMS finalists were Ingeniux (based in Seattle) and Hannon Hill (based in Atlanta). Both CMSs have a strong foothold in the higher education space with hundreds of college implementations between the two companies. Both CMS companies spent a full day on campus in April where they met with the Web staff, key staff from Information Technology, and provided two-hour demos of their CMSs in front of our selection group.
We started the CMS selection process with a clear understanding of our CMS functional requirements and objectives. These were communicated early on in the Web redesign project in the original RFP and then again during the CMS selection process. Both vendors submitted full proposals, which covered in detail how they matched up against our functional requirements. Their on-site demos also addressed how each product addressed our requirements. Both Hannon Hill and Ingeniux met most of these requirements, but in the end, Ingeniux came out on top. Read more
Web Redesign Update: Strategy, Staffing/Web Management Assessment, and CMS Recommendations
Since BarkleyREI’s three days of on-site discovery meetings in late January we’ve been busy. We reviewed pages and pages of discovery notes and other information compiled during their time on campus. We’ve provided BarkleyREI with additional college research, Web analytics data, findings from campus listening sessions and Web redesign survey, and finalized a project schedule.
The BarkleyREI team has been a joy to work with. They have a very talented team and we are very pleased with the progress made so far.
Last week BarkleyREI presented their initial Web redesign strategy via conference call and Web presentation. We’re currently reviewing the document with internal stakeholders and will include an overview of the site strategy in this blog in the next couple of weeks.
BarkleyREI began their strategy presentation by saying the following:
“Arriving on campus we had certain perceptions about a small, Catholic, liberal arts college, but after hearing the many stories and experiences of faculty, staff, and students, you blew us away. Saint Anselm College is truly a special place. I want my kids to go there.”
So What’s Next?
As part of BarkleyREI’s work, we’ve asked them to review our current Web staffing level, how the site is currently managed and supported, adequacy of training provided to faculty and staff, and current Web budget. The goal of this exercise is to better understand the resources required to maintain and support an interactive, engaging Web site that incorporates multimedia technologies and content. BarkleyREI will present their recommendations to us later this week.
We’ve also asked BarkleyREI to recommend three content management systems (CMS), based on what they’ve learned during the discovery and strategy phases. In the coming weeks, we will seek the assistance of a core group of faculty, staff, and students to help us with CMS review and selection. The review and demonstration of each CMS product will be done through an open process. Once the CMS demonstrations are scheduled, campus-wide e-mails will be sent to faculty and staff inviting people to participate in each session. We’re also hopeful people will use the commenting features of this blog to provide feedback during the CMS selection process.
BarkleyREI On-Site Discovery Schedule for Jan. 26-29
The firm selected to redesign the Saint Anselm College Web site this calendar year, BarkleyREI, will be on campus Jan. 26-29 as part of their on-site discovery research. They will be meeting with multiple constituent groups during their time on campus.
Despite scheduling more than three days of meetings, we are not able to fit in everyone we’d like this time around. Rest assured that we will schedule additional conference calls with groups on campus in the weeks to come. We will begin to schedule these during the week of Feb. 2.
A big thanks to everyone who assisted College Communications and Marketing with organizing these sessions. Your participation is critical for a successful project outcome.
* Please note that each of these sessions are by invitation only.
College Selects BarkleyREI to Redesign Web Site
College Communications and Marketing (CCM) is pleased to announce that BarkleyREI of Pittsburgh, PA has been chosen to redesign the Saint Anselm College Web site. BarkleyREI was one of three finalists for the project and was chosen by a campus advisory group assisting CCM with the selection process.
BarkleyREI is a full service interactive marketing agency that specializes in building higher education, travel and tourism, and nonprofit Web sites. They have built a reputation for developing comprehensive Web strategies for many university clients, including Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, and Vanderbilt, among others.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the on-site vendor presentations, took time to complete the Web redesign survey, or attended Web Redesign listening sessions in November. Your participation and willingness to provide us with valuable input and feedback makes our work all that much easier.
Next Steps
Work on the redesign project will begin in late January when BarkleyREI visits campus for three days to meet with constituent groups across the college. We’ll post an updated project schedule as soon as it becomes available.