Interview: Humphrey Institute Web site redesign

This is the sixth in a several-part series of interviews with communicators who have redesigned or
updated their Web sites with the University templates. If you have
redesigned your site or have a site to suggest for these interviews, let us know.

In this edition: Julie Lund on the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs Web site

What were your reasons for redesigning the site?
The University's branding policy calling for all sites on the umn.edu domain meet specific visual guidelines coincided with our desire to significantly upgrade the look and feel of the Humphrey Institute's website. Due to the hiring pause, we had one-time money that we used to conduct qualitative research and help with information architecture and graphic design.

What kind of user research or user testing did you do?
Using Google Analytics, we determined that the vast majority of our website traffic was admissions-related. We supplemented that quantitative information with focus group interviews with prospective students. We also wanted to improve the utility of our site for practitioners and those who might be interested in our revenue-generating professional development programs, so we conducted interviews with representatives of those audiences, as well.

What factors went in to the organization of the site?
The feedback that we received from prospective students was that our existing site was fine at proving "just the facts, Ma'am." What we learned was that students want to be inspired to aspire to something great. They really do want to change the world and they want us to call them forth to realize that goal. We made our language more personal and more passionate and have included a lot of videos on the new site of students and alumni talking about their dreams and accomplishments to literally speak to what students want to hear.

How did you think about the visual design of your site within the context of the University brand?
We used the University's brand framework as the base for a simple, clean design. Our new website has much more white space, less text (and that text is more direct), and bigger, bolder images. Since launching the new website last August (2009), we have begun to redesign all of our printed materials, like our newsletter and recruitment pieces, to make them part of a new design family.

What was the biggest challenge, and how did you get past it?
It is an ongoing challenge to work with the many units that make up even our small college. Because our central staff is so small, we expect about two dozen people across the Institute to create and update content. So many authors makes consistency hard to attain. It also is challenging to help staff communicate effectively with target audiences . . . to eliminate jargon and acronyms or to organize content in a way that is intuitive to users rather than reflective of internal politics or org charts. They are expects in the content but they have to trust that we are experts in communicating it.

How did you manage the project and keep it on track?
The site redesign was a team effort among the communications staff (of two), our IT director, and our web coordinator. We met (and continue to meet) weekly to keep the project on track. Our initial timeline was much too ambitious, so the site launch was four months later than intended (although still in time for the fall recruiting season).

What did you learn from the process?
Having valid research to rely upon is very helpful. On the old site, we had pages that were pet projects of staff members. It was much easier to convince people to take down or reorganize the information when Google Analytics revealed that the pages were never accessed. Having research helps to make decision making rational . . . I am not rewriting your web page because I don't like it (or you). I am rewriting it because prospective students found it unclear.

How are you evaluating the redesign's success?
At this point, our evidence is mainly anecdotal. We have very good feedback from prospective students, who actively compare our site with competitor schools' as they investigate their options. Alumni and current student also appreciate being included on the site in videos and profiles. And, just today I learned that our professional development programs recently received five inquiries from new clients, all of whom learned of our services through the website.

Interview: Rec Sports Web site redesign

This is the fifth in a several-part
series of interviews with communicators who have redesigned or
updated their Web sites with the University templates. If you have
redesigned your site or have a site to suggest for these interviews, let us know.

In this edition: Brad Hunt on the Department of Recreational Sports Web site redesign

What were your reasons for redesigning the site?
We had several reasons. First we wanted to redesign the site so we could get our department aligned with the new University standards as quickly as possible. Being a department of our size, we felt that being a good steward toward the University of Minnesota is our main priority.

We also wanted to make our site more navigable. We built our site two years ago to limit the amount of clicks a person had to make to three. Although this was a huge success, we also kept a close eye on how people navigated through the site. We found that by having our primary links on the left navigation and the secondary links on the right side of the navigation, this created delays in our current and prospective members getting the information they needed in the timeliest manner. Therefore, we chose to redesign our site so that all of the information could be found either vertically (along the left navigation) or horizontally (along the top navigation).

What kind of user research or user testing did you do?
We sent the site to our professional staff and students of the department and gathered their feedback for where they felt the site was strong vs. where there needed to be improvements. We also gathered statistical data from our Google Analytics page which showed where our patrons were visiting, what site pathways were strong, and what pathways could be improved.

We are also in an ongoing process of making sure that our site can be easily read in various graphic and non-graphical browsers, text to speech readers, etc. Although we believe that the site is very well constructed for all browsers and readers, we understand that we need to continually be testing the site to ensure that there are no issues.


What factors went in to the organization of the site?

• Simplicity
• Uniqueness and unexpectedness
• Compliance with graphic standards
• Credibility
• Emotional -- telling the stories of the people that make Rec Sports the strong department that it is

How did you think about the visual design of your site within the context of the University brand?
We were initially concerned about it, but after putting our heads together in the marketing team, we felt that it was our job to find a way to make the maroon and gold header flow with the new site. The last thing we wanted to do was create a completely maroon and gold website, so we worked to determine what color palettes would flow well with the maroon and gold header. We were able to create some pretty strong complementary colors that allowed our viewers to appreciate the maroon and gold header rather than perceiving it as an eyesore.

What was the biggest challenge, and how did you get past it?
Our biggest challenge was skepticism. Redesigning a website was only one part of a huge rebranding process that our department has gone through as a result of these new standards. I have had to dedicate significant time and resources into our rebranding efforts. We were somewhat skeptical at first to move forward with our rebranding because we have seen graphic standards change many times over the years. Just three years ago, we were approved by University Relations to create a new departmental logo, and now we were being required to rebrand again? This initially made us frustrated because we would now have to dedicate the same amount of time and resources for another project.

Quite simply, we were able to get past this challenge by swallowing our pride and looking at the bigger picture. University Relations is not here to make our lives harder (sometimes that is a difficult pill to swallow). The more we talked about the rebranding process, the less cynical we became. It makes sense to create a strong, university-wide brand. This helps to create a consistent message on the Twin Cities campus, and it establishes a stronger sense of community between campus departments rather than individualism. We just hope that this new branding remains consistent for 5-10 years so we can continue to develop our own brand within the University.

Now it is fun to see what departments are doing to create their new brand. Although a lot of the unit/wordmark combinations look the same when placed next to each other, it is nevertheless important to remember that the general public won't notice this. When I attend conferences around the country, our new brand provides for an even stronger conversation starter. The block M and wordmark are now in plain sight rather than placed on the back/side of our apparel.

How did you manage the project and keep it on track?
The entire rebranding process lasted from May-August 2009. I gave all of my interns specific tasks to handle such as on/off campus research, design theory, web template research, presentation preparation, interviews and focus groups, etc. We kept the process on track by creating hard deadlines for everyone to meet.

We also had a management team at Rec Sports that remained involved from day one. They were great with providing feedback to us regarding what they thought and how we needed to continue to think "big picture." By presenting to the management team, we gained their trust and it in turn gave us more confidence that this project had meaning. We wanted to have the site ready for a soft launch by August 1 so we could continue to test it for a couple of weeks for any small bugs, usability issues, networking adjustments, etc. We were able to launch the site by mid August - just in time for our students/faculty/staff to see the fresh, new look of Rec Sports before the start of the academic year.

What tips do you have for other units redesigning their Web sites?

• Create a strong site map that has capability for growth
• Get more than one set of eyes to look at the site -- sometimes what the web designer thinks works best isn't going to work for the end user
• Test the site often to ensure that it can be read in various browsers, screen readers, etc.

How are you evaluating the site's success?

• Google Analytics
• Emails to the Rec Sports account
• Incoming requests for new pages from Rec Sports programs
• General feedback from the Rec Sports staff and members
  

Monday link roundup: 3.29.10

These are some articles that caught my eye lately. What links do you recommend to fellow Forum members?

Clients say the darnedest things: How to deal with bad feedback :: "Negative refers to how the client perceives your work. Bad refers to how the client expresses their perception (negative or positive) of your work."

QA on Higher Education Web sites. How to do it and what to look for. :: "Tools and people will come and go, quality on the other hand is the one thing in a web office that is a constant."

The i, b, em, & strong elements :: "While many HTML4 elements have been brought into HTML5 essentially unchanged, several historically presentational ones have been given semantic meanings."

The 100 most funny and unusual 404 error pages :: I have a strong preference for the ones that don't blame the user or use the word oops.

Which leads me to... Avoid this common error :: "I'll be the first to admit planning for and writing error messages is not the sexiest of web writing tasks. But it can be one of the most important."

Interview: Center for Cognitive Sciences Web site redesign

This is the fourth in a several-part series of interviews with communicators who have redesigned or updated their Web sites with the University templates. If you have redesigned your site or have a site to suggest for these interviews, let us know.

In this edition: Roger Dumas on the Center for Cognitive Sciences Web site

What were your reasons for redesigning the site?
Our old design was based on tables and I wanted to move to CSS and server-side includes to make the site look better and make my life easier.

What kind of user research or user testing did you do?
I asked co-workers, friends and family to look at the design on different platforms and browsers.

What factors went in to the organization of the site?
I wanted quick loading, which meant creating style sheets, writing re-usable HTML (includes) and using fewer graphics.

How did you think about the visual design of your site within the context of the University brand?
This was a hard one, mostly because I was limited to a few colors and no logos.

What was the biggest challenge, and how did you get past it?
Learning how to properly use server-side includes was a big challenge. The site works at this point, but my pages are all at the same level for technical reasons. Gotta figure how to make their graphics appear after I put them in folders. Also, scrapping the idea of a logo for the department put a wrench in the works. Instead, I used a watermark and an interesting font.

How did you manage the project and keep it on track?
Since I'm the entire team, I only had to manage my own time (on top of my research and three other sites.)

What did you learn from the process?
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and server-side includes are not too difficult to learn and implement, plus they are saving me tons of time making the inevitable changes. I weaned myself from total reliance on Dreamweaver templates and am very glad I took the time to do it.

How are you evaluating the redesign's success?
I'm continuing to make adjustments to account for IE6's idiosyncrasies as people tell me about them.

Interview: CFANS Web site redesign

This is the third in a several-part
series of interviews with communicators who have redesigned or
updated their Web sites with the University templates. If you have
redesigned your site or have a site to suggest for these interviews, let us know.

In this edition: Forum member Rachel Lam
on the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) Web site

What were your reasons for redesigning the site?
Our old website had grown quite a bit since we created it several years earlier. Information was often buried and hard to find. In addition, we needed to move our site out of our old CMS and into UMContent. This was a great opportunity for us to reexamine our structure and content and to freshen up the general look of the site.

What kind of user research or user testing did you do?
We did some informal surveys and focus groups to discover what info people were looking for and what they had trouble finding. We used that to create a demo of the new site and then did usability testing with the Usability Lab to see whether our new structure and design were easier to use.

What factors went in to the organization of the site?
We looked at our stats to see what pages people were visiting (or searching for) most often and then tried to make them easier to get to. For example, "Majors & Minors" was one of our most popular pages, but it took 5 clicks to get to it. Now it's just 2 clicks from the home page.

How did you think about the visual design of your site within the context of the University brand?
We used the University's new templates as the basis for our site structure and design and picked a color scheme that harmonized with maroon and gold.

What was the biggest challenge, and how did you get past it?
I think our biggest challenge was going through all of our content and asking: Do we need it? Is it up to date? Where should it go?

How did you manage the project and keep it on track?
Honey VanderVenter did a great job with organizing regular meetings and checking in with people to make sure content revision and uploading was still on track. I focused more on helping with organization issues, accessibility, and developing templates for the site.

What did you learn from the process?
The usability testing was really eye-opening. Sometimes we discovered that people were looking for information in a part of the site we hadn't expected (like wanting to find "Majors & Minors" under "About CFANS", rather than "Undergraduate Students"). We also learned that some of our terminology didn't make sense to the users, so we spent quite a bit of time trying to find more appropriate words.

How are you evaluating the redesign's success?
I think the biggest sign of our success is that people have been telling us how much easier it is to use the new site. We don't get nearly as many "I couldn't find ____ on your website" emails as we did in the past.

Poll: March Holiday: Wasteful, or Awesome?

Every year when March rolls around, I look at the calendar and remember that we get the Friday of Spring Break as a University day off. Some years I curse the randomness of having that day off, and wish I could use that holiday for something useful, like my birthday...or the day after my birthday. This year, I'm actually excited about having a random Friday off! Since it's not a holiday that the rest of the world shares, places like restaurants, malls, and museums are open, and I can take advantage of a relatively quite day of errand running, or perhaps plan a little 3 day trip.

So, what do you think of our March floating holiday?

Interview: OFYP Web site redesign

This is the second in a several-part series of interviews with communicators who have redesigned or updated their Web sites with the University templates. If you have redesigned your site or have a site to suggest for these interviews, let us know.

In this edition: Forum member Bill O'Connor on the Office of First Year Programs (OFYP) Web site

What were your reasons for redesigning the site?
The OFYP site was last redesigned in 2006 by Kris Layon, so with the introduction of new U of M Web standards we decided the time was right. We also recognized that each year we were printing less and turning more to eCommunication. We realized that this was a great opportunity to streamline and improve our communication efforts.

What kind of user research or user testing did you do?
Every fall we host focus groups from the freshmen, transfer students, and parents that attended our summer programs. From that we were able to figure out what our users valued about the site, as well as what aspects we needed to change. We also talked with current students about their preferred Web tools and technology. Once the new site was created we went through usability testing through Usability Services.

What factors went in to the organization of the site?
We identified our various audiences and tried to create intuitive paths for every subject. As with every communication item we create, it always comes back to the question "where would you expect to find this information?" Sometimes it results in some creative duplication, but for the most part it works. We also had our content providers meet with Kristin Cleveland from University Relations to make sure that our content was appropriate for Web.

How did you think about the visual design of your site within the context of the University brand?
I like the idea of consistency and connection, especially when it benefits the end user. So we thought of the U branding as a frame that would connect OFYP to all people and resources throughout the U of M. For the past few years we have tried to connect the OFYP brand to our print communications by visual consistencies like color, images, etc.

What was the biggest challenge, and how did you get past it?
Our previous site was built and managed using Dreamweaver templates, but we wanted to move towards utilizing a content management system. We settled on a CMS called Joomla, which had a steep learning curve. Before switching to a content management system, we were managing multiple versions of the site for our seasonal content cycles.

How did you manage the project and keep it on track?
We were very specific with roles and expectations. I was the project manager; my intern Micah Spieler designed the layout, managed graphics and color, and made content updates; our technical specialist Josh Huston was responsible for programming, browser testing, Joomla training, etc.; and each of our program coordinators was responsible for creating and updating their content. We set a lengthy timeline, and built in enough flexibility to allow for changes.

What tips do you have for other units redesigning their Web sites?
Define your audience and what they need to know, get their input throughout the entire process, and build your site so that it is flexible and can be changed easily.

How are you evaluating the site's success?
We look at email and call volume, and with every question received we examine our communication (Web, email, print) to see how easy it is to find the answer. We constantly encourage feedback, and will host focus groups after the summer programming.

Member profile: Todd Reubold

Meet Communicators Forum member Todd Reubold

Job title: Director of Communications and Public Affairs, Institute on the Environment

Which means: I'm part air traffic controller, staff psychologist and team cheerleader.

I have been at the University since: 2004 (early 90's if you count my earlier stints as a student)

Areas of expertise: Not much of an expert in one area, but I did study energy and environmental policy in grad school and have a passion for communications.

I love being a Forum member because: The events are top-notch, the people are great and the snacks are delicious. What more could you want?!

Family members: Wife, Veronika; dogs, Jasper and Zooey

Hobbies: Tennis, travel, time with our dogs, biking, snow skiing, playing drums with my band

Favorite National Park: Yellowstone. Last time we saw grizzlies and black bears while driving through the park and hiking in the backcountry.

I am passionate about: Animals, the environment, and ridding the world of bad PowerPoint presentations.

People are always surprised to learn that I: Am a total U2 fanatic! Been to fifteen shows and counting. Met my wife because of U2. Even made the cover of Norway's largest daily newspaper along with Bono following a concert in Oslo.

What's your word today?

What do potlatch, baksheesh, goulash, laager and cabal have in common?

There are many ways to learn a word a day, and my current favorite is A.Word.A.Day. Each week has a theme, and every day I get an email with my new word. Last week's theme? Words that came to English from other languages (see potlatch, baksheesh, etc.).

And since we're on the subject of words, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the U's own Anatoly Liberman, professor of German philology and author of Word Origins...And How We Know Them. He is also known as the Oxford Etymologist where he answers your questions about word origins. He's in the midst of a series entitled "Unpleasant People."

Link roundup, 3.5.10

I've been putting a lot of miles on my to_read tag on delicious, but have managed to read some good articles lately. What have you been reading, listening to, or watching? Let us know in the comments.

Ten rules for writing fiction (part two) :: I know several of you Forum members are also fiction writers. Here's a refreshingly insightful collection of writing tips from established authors.

Iconic TV ::
"Created out of a love for posters, modernism and television, there
wasn't a client out there to commission such a job so Austrian designer
Albert Exergian wrote his own brief and created this self initiated
series of posters throwing all of the above inspirations into the
creative melting pot."

6 Ways to Optimize Your SEO for Misspellings - And Why It Pays to be a Bad Speller :: "it turns out that a significant percentage of web users are sloppy with their language - particularly when using search engines like Google. There are around 10 million misspelled search queries every single day."

How Much Should I Charge? [PDF] :: Suggested rates for freelance writers based on a survey.

A Little Less Conversation :: "Have you ever invited employees to a meeting just so they wouldn't feel left out? If so, you may be an overcommunicator."

The Brand Quiz :: Two colors, a visual hint, and a cryptic clue.

What Type Are You? :: A video quiz created by the always-innovative Pentagram. Happy Friday, fellow typography nerds.


Finally, who was at Ignite Minneapolis last night?

Happy National Grammar Day

Today is National Grammar Day. To celebrate, follow the #grammarday hashtag on Twitter (and @GrammarGirl, if you aren't already).

Are you doing anything especially grammatical today?