Flexible Web Branding, the Case Against Single Web Templates - CASEV 2010

Follow the 2010 CASE V Conference on Twitter #CASEVFlexible Web Branding, the Case Against Single Web Templates Communications and Web Track sponsored by Alumni Magnet

Nick DeNardis @nickdenardis Associate Director of Web Communications Wayne State University http://wayne.edu/ Host of EDU Checkup http://educheckup.com/ Writer for .eduGuru http://doteduguru.com/CASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Who are you?CASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Who are you? Directly control your entire institution’s website?CASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Who are you? Directly control your entire institution’s website? Directly control the homepage or a portion of the site?CASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Who are you? Directly control your entire institution’s website? Directly control the homepage or a portion of the site? Are a one person shop?CASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Who are you? Directly control your entire institution’s website? Directly control the homepage or a portion of the site? Are a one person shop? Have one central CMS?CASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Who are you? Directly control your entire institution’s website? Directly control the homepage or a portion of the site? Are a one person shop? Have one central CMS? Are you currently going through a redesign?CASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Who are you? Directly control your entire institution’s website? Directly control the homepage or a portion of the site? Are a one person shop? Have one central CMS? Are you currently going through a redesign? Have an in house Web team?CASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

The golden rule of the web Treat users as you would want to be treatedCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Higher Education: The Toughest Gig in All the Web - Mark Greenﬁeld 3pm today in the Ballroom IICASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Benchmarking http://edustyle.netCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

CASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Goal: Make it noteworthy But what makes a noteworthy site?CASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Noteworthy in the past year Boston University x 7 Saxion Universities of Applied Sciences Wentworth Institute of Technology Dickinson College Wofford College University of Puget Sound Connecticut State University System Freed-Hardeman University Century College Southwest Minnesota State Mills College University University of Missouri NC State University Cornell University x 2 The University of Alabama Kent State University Grand Valley State University Cornell UniversityCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Examining the noteworthy sites from the past year Mainly redesign An opportunity to implement a new direction Small iterations don’t make the list What is the shelf life of a redesigned site?CASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Three examplesCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

WoffordCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

University of Nebraska–LincolnCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Boston UniversityCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

What did we just learn?CASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

What did we just learn? Single web templates are not a silver bulletCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

What did we just learn? Single web templates are not a silver bullet Old sites need to be redesignedCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

What did we just learn? Single web templates are not a silver bullet Old sites need to be redesigned Competition between complete or no controlCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

What did we just learn? Single web templates are not a silver bullet Old sites need to be redesigned Competition between complete or no control To think like a user you have to be a userCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

A happy medium :-) Flexible branding from the start Good communication Proper training Reward the rule followers Pick your battles Sometimes you just have to let goCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Tiered branding Tier 1 Admissions Financial Aid, Housing, Advising Tier 2 Current Student Services Ofﬁces & Departments Tier 3 Staff & Administration Sites Centers & InstitutesCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Departmental interviewCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Departmental interview Have the dean/department head/director thereCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Departmental interview Have the dean/department head/director there Meet with the advisors, admissions & other staffCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Departmental interview Have the dean/department head/director there Meet with the advisors, admissions & other staff Get a list of differentiatorsCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Departmental interview Have the dean/department head/director there Meet with the advisors, admissions & other staff Get a list of differentiators You will ﬁnd more commonality than differencesCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Departmental interview Have the dean/department head/director there Meet with the advisors, admissions & other staff Get a list of differentiators You will ﬁnd more commonality than differences Make sure it is all about the end userCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Departmental interview Have the dean/department head/director there Meet with the advisors, admissions & other staff Get a list of differentiators You will ﬁnd more commonality than differences Make sure it is all about the end user Solve problems, setup goalsCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Get the designers involved Involve them early Make sure they are aware of the requirements Don’t re-invent the wheel Keep to constructsCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Average highered website Header News & announcements Navigation Promotion area Main branding area Contact information Search box Footer 1-2 Sentence “why we exist” Upcoming eventsCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Common unique items Student/faculty/alumni proﬁles Image gallery Video gallery In the news Sign up for updates formCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Totally unique elements Night sky calendar Picture of the week Top 10 pages visited pages System availabilityCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

WireframesCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Grid based http://960.gs/CASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Example Wayne State University - Library ScienceCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Example University of Maryland - NursingCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

“No no’s” Letter from the dean/director “Quicklinks” Non-standard colors Unapproved wordmarks Departmental “logos” Creating a “destination” site just becauseCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Making exceptions Pick your battles What are valid reasons for making exceptions? “Our students are different” Document reasoning Try not to do it on your homepage Flash, moving elements, different colors, fontsCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Summary Treat users as you would want to be treated Every department cannot ﬁt into the same box Create constructs everyone can use Have fun while still being professional It’s just the webCASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Questions?CASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Thank You! http://caseﬁve.org/conference/presentations/CASE V 2010 @nickdenardis

Flexible Web Branding, the Case Against Single Web Templates - CASEV 2010

by Nick DeNardis on Dec 13, 2010

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Flexible Web Branding, the Case Against Single Web Templates - CASEV 2010 — Presentation Transcript

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