Learn how to create more dynamic pages using NYU's central CMS with these design and layout best practices. Note: these are shared slides from an in-person training delivered by Katie Santo and Logan Johnson of NYU's Digital Communications Group and are meant to be an aid for CMS users at NYU. (Updated: Version 3)

1. CMS DESIGN & LAYOUT
BEST PRACTICES
KATIE SANTO
WEB TRAINING & CONTENT SUPPORT SPECIALIST
DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS GROUP
LOGAN JOHNSON
WEB DESIGNER
DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS GROUP

2. AGENDA
• User Experience & Usability
• Thoughtful Design
• Best Practices
• Activity
• Question & Answer

3. ACTIVITY

4. PO.ST/CMSACTIVITY

5. USER EXPERIENCE & USABILITY

6. User experience encompasses all aspects
of the end-user's interaction with the
company, its services, and its products.
Don Norman
Co-founder and Principal, Nielsen Norman Group

7. Usability is a quality attribute that assesses
how easy user interfaces are to use.
Jakob Nielsen
Co-founder and Principal, Nielsen Norman Group

8. You are not your
target audience.

10. THOUGHTFUL DESIGN

11. Design is the rendering of intent. The
designer imagines an outcome and puts
forth activities to make that outcome real.
Jared Spool
Founder, User Interface Engineering

15. It’s dancing before you can walk. It’s doing
all kinds of tricks just for the sake of doing
tricks, not the sake of solving the problem.
Paul Rand
Art Director and Graphic Designer

16. BEST PRACTICES

17. BEST PRACTICES
• Review your content to make sure it’s mobile-friendly; column
control goes a long way to help make your page dynamic

18. BEST PRACTICES
• Review your content to make sure it’s mobile-friendly; column
control goes a long way to help make your page dynamic
• Take advantage of the different promo style options available

20. BEST PRACTICES
• Review your content to make sure it’s mobile-friendly; column
control goes a long way to help make your page dynamic
• Take advantage of the different promo style options available
• Remember that images accent and enhance your content; avoid
embedding text like dates, email addresses, or phone numbers

22. BEST PRACTICES
• Review your content to make sure it’s mobile-friendly; column
control goes a long way to help make your page dynamic
• Take advantage of the different promo style options available
• Remember that images accent and enhance your content; avoid
embedding text like dates, email addresses, or phone numbers
• Use the header format to add a hierarchy to your content but be
careful not to skip any header levels in the process

23. BEST PRACTICES
• Review your content to make sure it’s mobile-friendly; column
control goes a long way to help make your page dynamic
• Take advantage of the different promo style options available
• Remember that images accent and enhance your content; avoid
embedding text like dates, email addresses, or phone numbers
• Use the header format to add a hierarchy to your content but be
careful not to skip any header levels in the process
• Remove any duplicated or outdated logos from your pages

24. BEST PRACTICES
• Review your content to make sure it’s mobile-friendly; column
control goes a long way to help make your page dynamic
• Take advantage of the different promo style options available
• Remember that images accent and enhance your content; avoid
embedding text like dates, email addresses, or phone numbers
• Use the header format to add a hierarchy to your content but be
careful not to skip any header levels in the process
• Remove any duplicated or outdated logos from your pages

25. ACTIVITY

26. CMS COMPONENTS
• Basic Promo
• Button Promo
• Column Control
• Contact Us
• Divider
• Events Calendar
• Event Cal Promo
• Expandable
• Follow Us
• Image
• Media Player
• Photo Gallery
• Reference
• Rich Text
• Shortcuts
• Social Feed
• Summary List
• Table

27. RESOURCES

28. RESOURCES
• What is User Experience? (Video)
• User Experience Community of Practice
• Creative Brief
• Blank Templates
• Design Tools (Spreadsheet)

29. QUESTION & ANSWER

30. NYU.EDU/CMS
PO.ST/DESIGNRESOURCES
ASKIT@NYU.EDU / 212-998-3333
CMS.TRAINING@NYU.EDU
@NYUDIGICOMM

31. THANK YOU