This document provides an outline and overview for redesigning a university homepage to be more responsive to mobile and tablet devices. It discusses researching the target audience of college-bound high school students and their mobile usage. It also reviews the homepage designs of similar universities based on Carnegie classifications and peer groups. The document outlines parameters for an updated design including responsive design, templates, menus, and content like news, events and maps. It provides statistics on increasing mobile and tablet traffic to university websites and screen resolutions. Finally, it discusses considerations for the design approach including prioritizing content strategy, architecture, technology and usability factors.

1. 2013 Homepage Draft
Munindra Khaund
July 18, 2013

2. Outline
Research
Technology
Design
1
2
3

3. 1
RESEARCH

4. College-Bound High School Students
 Challenges and Opportunities
Mobile device usage
Campus website on mobile device
Mobile social media usage
If we don’t engage a prospect, they will go and
start a conversation at another place.
1

5. Carnegie Classifications 156
COPLAC
1
Institutions of Higher Education
28
15
U.S. News &World Report 150+
Peer Group

6. Review Parameters
1
 Responsive Web
Design [RWD]
 Mobile
 Updated design
 Template uniformity
across departments
 Menu architecture
 Campus services
 Widgets
 News and Events
 Calendars
 A-Z Index
 Faculty/Student Stories
 Social
 Maps
 and more…

7. Website Review
Attributes CARNEGIE COPLAC PEER GROUP
Reviews 156 27 14
RWD 20 3 2
Mobile 11 0 1
Design 16 0 0
Template 100 17 12
1

8. Template Uniformity
CARNEGIE COPLAC PEER GROUP
Reviews 156 27 14
Template 100 17 12
Music 79 17 11
Theatre 66 12 11
1

9. Design and Usability Review
 Undergraduate students
 Graduate [international] students
 Community member
 Staff
1

10. 2
TECHNOLOGY

11. “Get Relevant or Get Ignored”
Eric Schmidt, Google
2

12. The New Multi-Screen World
Understanding Cross-Platform Consumer Behavior
2

13. 2

14. Pew Internet
 Tablet
Adults ages 18 and older own a tablet
College graduates own a tablet
 Mobile
Adult population owns a cell phone
2
34%
49%
91%

15. 2

16. What The Heck Is
Responsive Web Design?
John Polacek
2

17. Responsive Web Design
 Content
 Search Engine Optimization
 Common user experience
 One design, multiple platforms
 Complex
 Cost
2

18. Admissions
2

19. Admissions

20. UIS Mobile and Tablet Traffic
YEAR MOBILE TABLET
2009 0.17% 0.00%
2010 1.73% 0.00%
2011 5.24% 0.15%
2012 8.92% 2.48%
2
*Sampling of Visits from Google Analytics

21. Screen Resolutions
2
"Graphic Arrays" is
about screen
resolutions and
aspect ratios and
how these evolved
over the last
decades.
Aram Bartholl
2013

22. 3
DESIGN

23. Web Design 101
You are not the user.
3

24. Web Design 101
Your audience is not a monolith.
3

25. Web Design 101
It’s hard to beat good search.
3

26. Web Design 101
Nothing beats compelling content.
3

27. Web Design 101
There’s more to design than how it looks.
3

28. Web Design 101
Whitespace defines visual narrative.
3

29. Mission Statement
“The University of Illinois at Springfield
provides an intellectually rich,
collaborative, and intimate learning
environment for students, faculty, and
staff, while serving local, regional, state,
national, and international communities.”
3

30. Our Promise
 Teaching-focused Academic Experience
 An Abundance of Opportunities to
Collaborate
 A Right-sized, Supportive Community
 A Tradition of Educating Public Servants
and Leaders
3

31. 3

32. Reasons to Fail
1. Content Strategy
– Content
– Photos
– Social
– Stories
2. Architecture
– Mobile
– Navigation
3. Technology
– Accessibility
– CMS
– RWD
– SEO
4. Design
– Subjective
3

33. Content Strategy
 Keyword and Metadata
 Social
3
84%
Keywords are known entities
uis dars, uis student email, uis housing
Usage of hashtags
#UIS  #UISedu
Tagging
@uis.edu