Interview: U of M-Crookston Web site redesign

This is the 18^th in a several-part series of interviews with communicators who have redesigned or updated their Web sites. If you have redesigned your site or have a site to suggest for these interviews, let us know.

In this edition: Amber Bailey on the University of Minnesota, Crookston Web site

What were your reasons for redesigning the site?
We are in the process of moving all of our sites to UMContent, and our Admissions site was one of the first major sites to be moved into the system. Our old Admissions site was designed in the summer of 2006, so the age of it was also another driving factor.

What kind of user research or user testing did you do?
We looked at our current web statistics to determine what our users looked at the most. We also researched other University Admissions sites to see how they were structuring their sites and to see what new features they were using. We also looked at some research that Cappex did on "What High School Counselors Want from College Admissions". Overall, it was many factors that helped us determine how to redesign/re-structure the site.

How did you think about the visual design of your site within the
context of the University brand?
On all of our new Crookston sites, we are using the University approved header (with some slight modifications for our campus) and footer. The body of the page will differ from site to site, but will always have a larger banner on the homepage of the site and a smaller (modified) banner on all the subpages. Our campus really likes the flexibility of the 960 grid system.

What was the biggest challenge, and how did you get past it?
Our biggest challenge was how to narrow our main navigation down to as few links as possible (even though the list is still a bit long). We worked and reworked the navigation several times - and came up with categories of links.

How did you manage the project and keep it on track?
We kept setting mini-goals. First goal - initial meeting; second goal - research; third goal - site map/structure; fourth goal - design; fifth goal - content creation/refreshment; sixth goal - putting the site together (design/content) in UMContent; seventh goal - training admissions staff to keep the site updated. On each of these goals we set deadlines - it helped keep us on track.

What tips do you have for other units redesigning their Web sites?
I have done many re-designs of websites, and since we are a University and have many different groups/people we need to talk with, it's easy to forget who you said what to and what you decided on. I feel that taking really good notes (with dates attached), keeping a folder with the all the information for a particular site, and writing out "to-do" lists for everyone involved (so they have it in writing) has seemed to make the process of redesign a lot smoother. "Patience" is also a very good thing to have ...things come up during the process that might change things or get them off track... so setting and being able to "reset" those mini-goals is very important.

How are you evaluating the redesign's success?
We continue to look at the website statistics and get verbal and written feedback.