People trust a site that appears clearly organized.

Recently a potential client in discussing a web site redesign expressed how their content management vendor’s implementation of navigation with multiple levels of fly-out menus caused problems for older alumni (who can’t drive a mouse as well as they used too — this issue it not limited to older individuals, by the way). The vendor is probably no doubt proud of the technical aspects of its menus — it uses them frequently in its online portfolio examples — but this is an example where the technical solution is not the best human solution, and it leaves a bad impression with certain users.

James Kalbach writes in Designing Web Navigation that while the “cost of finding information is high, the cost of not finding information is perhaps higher.”** A site’s navigation plays a role in expressing a brand, it:

Communicates … priorities and values through categories, the order of options, and the tone of the labels. Well-structured navigation also contributes to the overall credibility…. People seem to trust a site that appears clearly organized with an easy-to-use navigational structure.

How you help or hinder your site visitor’s completion of his or her goals and whether you respect or waste a user’s time, feeds the stream of impressions about your institution. In the example above, the message is: We don’t care so much about our older alumni. If your navigation is “cool,” but unusable by persons with disabilities, you are sending a pretty definite message about your institution, and its brand, into the world.

We’re all aware that our brand extends beyond the visual aspects of it. We’re frequently much better at implementing the visual parts — the logo, the stationery package, the publications, the appearance of the website — than we are the physical and experience aspects. But our brand’s story is also informed by physical interactions and by experiences, whether we actively try to mange those aspects or not. An unhelpful employee can damage the impression of your brand for a campus visitor. A campus tour and the appearance of your physical plant can affirm or change your brand impression in the mind of a prospect or a parent. And nothing can telegraph an organization’s thinking about its consumers or audiences quicker than its web site.

In web projects there’s often pressure to get to something visual very quickly, but web design is as much, if not more, about enabling an experience as it is about including the logo and new pictures of the quad. Your site’s navigation, and the information architecture and the back-end technical systems supporting it, are the foundation of the online experience. Design decisions should always consider accessibility, responsiveness, and polite degradability (for assistive technology devices and older browsers) with the goal to leave site visitors with a delightful, as opposed to frustrating, experience. Navigation design should not be left to the IT intern or the default settings of your content management system.

–
* Dayal, S., Landesberg, H. and Zeisser, M., “Building Digital Brands,” The McKinsey Quarterly, May 2000: 42-51.

** Kalbach, James, Designing Web Navigation (Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media, 2007) 22.

Q. If a school has conducted a lot of market research, can you use it?

A. Of course. I don’t think a responsible designer has the option to ignore research. I don’t hear the name of a university and think colors. That’s not the way it works for me.

We do a lot of research, looking at the target students’ aspirations and an institution’s aspirations and at how these interface — where they meet. That’s important: to look at where a school wants to be, not just at where it is.

In focus groups, we try to get the flavor of a school. We look at the play between being liberal arts versus a comprehensive university. Is the school carried by a few programs? What associations do people off campus have with the school? What draws individual kids to a school? How many are full-pay or first-generation? Who is the decision maker in the prospective student families — the student or the parent?

There are commonalities for every institution. For instance, people want to see the campus, to see where they are going to live for the next four years. We are selling lifestyle as much as academic distinctives.

If a college has lots of first-generation students and it seems that they are drawn to the idea of “college,” then I’ll consider using design elements that are iconic of college.

Are the majority of the prospective students “careerists” or people who want to learn how to learn? If they are mostly careerists, you don’t want to frustrate that desire with a lot of abstract language.

Some institutions attract kids who are readers, and that makes you want to give them opportunities for moments of discovery. I love being able to plant Easter eggs for curious people. This requires working closely with a writer. The content has to be structured in a way so that when a reader digs deeper, they are rewarded for their effort. I also love the boldness of the direct, benefits-oriented appeal to careerists.

Designers have to read the content in order to be successful. I think they have to like to read, in order to keep from frustrating readers. A rudimentary understanding of writing is necessary for functional layout.

Q. Can you describe the “design process” a little more?

A. The writer and I work together, doing the research and talking in broad strokes about what makes this school different. What motivates the students there?

For Woodberry Forest, we developed the themes of brotherhood and standing together in an extensive branding document. We thought that talking about brotherhood was best done as a long, direct speech with a rhythm to it — almost sermonizing.

Then we needed to figure out the viewbook sections. How do you back up that appeal? Your typical sections are academics, athletics, outcomes, etc., but for this brotherhood theme, you want something more conceptual: What it means to be a Woodberry man, to join this line, this history.

Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with the typical sections. Most kids won’t read a viewbook linearly. They’ll thumb through it from back to front. They want to see that list of majors. You’ve got to give them that payoff. But I like to put it at the end because the center spread is one of your best chances to create a lasting dominant impression with a reader. It should connect emotionally. My least favorite viewbooks are ones that are collections of lists.

Once we have the outline, we decide where we want to create interest with details and where we want to be broad, to hit people over the head. Is there a structural logic we want to impose? That starts to flesh out the outline.

The writer writes the broader strokes — what each page will be about. Together we decide — do I need to detail it — is there a story that needs to be told? Or do I need to scream it? We work from broad to the minute and then back up again.

Q. You direct the photo shoots for your projects. What makes a good photographer?

A. We are looking less and less for the photographers who can make the perfect studio shot. We look for people who can give energy, believability.

Kids are incredibly cynical nowadays. They react negatively to anything they don’t believe is sincere.

The good photographers make people feel comfortable, either not aware the camera is there or looking at the camera like you are one of their friends, like you’ve just walked up and joined the conversation. Two camera-aware shots can be technically the same but have a totally different feeling. I do try to limit the number of camera-aware shots. They are so tricky. If you don’t get it right, kids will crucify you for it.

There are other considerations. Many images in a piece will be small images. You want them to give a graphic idea, not details. Let large images celebrate the details.

We’ve all seen viewbooks with the cliched cover shot of a student sitting alone under a tree reading a book. We’re often tempted to think the contemplative life — the life of scholarly reflection — is the ideal collegiate experience. But that’s not necessarily going to connect with a 17-year-old. Social networking has changed the ideal. Kids nowadays don’t want to be alone. You have to show students interacting in groups.

Deserted beauty shots of facilities are a no-no. True, they’re easier to get than shots of kids interacting in the same setting, but you have to understand that the shot of the facility relates a feature, and the interaction shot portrays a benefit. And that’s a powerful difference.

We need to be aware of the stories we’re telling with our images. The story that an image tells to someone not familiar with the school is frequently completely different from the story it tells to us and the school administrators.

…

Every school has a different story to tell. Often for my job, the starting point is finding a reason to fall in love with the school. If I can convey that reason to someone else, then I deserve my paycheck.

[U]nlike viral, community requires a different set of objectives, strategy and tactics around measurement. Yet, intuitively, brands realize there is value to them. That’s because if we take our bright and shiny marketing hats off for a moment, we realize that it’s likely we are part of them. … People who use social networks also feel like they’re part of a larger community of people they relate to.

Regardless of whether you’re considering starting an online community, Armano provides a concise framework for any online presence—and for any brand initiative for that matter:

Content
When considering community initiatives, there are three questions to ask: Where will the content come from? Does it provide indisputable value? Can a regular flow of quality content be maintained?

Context
Context means understanding how to meet people where they are and serving them the right experience at the right time. Well-designed applications and functionality have great opportunities to deliver on context.

Connectivity
… It’s not about mass communications but more about the micro-interactions …. Designing experiences that support thousands of micro-interactions means you are making a commitment vs. trying to produce a one-hit wonder. …

Continuity
Communities … need to be flexible to evolve while still providing a valuable and consistent user experience which can be sustained.

Read the full article here.

Wesley College

Welsey College was looking for a complete redesign of its admissions campaign with a goal of shifting perception from a regional college to that of an academically innovative institution.

We took a no-nonsense tone with the copy and created a sophisticated design to appeal to students’ pragmatism and high expectations. One cool aspect of the concept is that it uses atypical sizes. The viewbook is about 6 x 9 inches and the visit piece is conveniently back-pocket-sized.

Bo Uzzle, design; Taylor Trussell, writing; Kathryn Spruill, account.

Wesley viewbook and visit piece

Woodberry Forest

The Woodberry Forest project involved extensive brand research and interviews. From our research we developed a brand narrative and key messages, the first expression of which is a new viewbook that captures Woodberry’s strong sense of brotherhood and academic rigor.

Bo Uzzle, design; Taylor Trussell, brand research and writing; Jennifer Bagley, account.

Woodberry viewbook spread

Arizona State University

ASU is being guided by a clear vision focused on the concept of the new American university. Our goal was to present this bold vision but without hyperbole, which could diminish its validity. Our concept for the resulting publications was storytelling with a purpose, defining the vision in the context of real people doing real things to make a real difference in the world.

Bonnie McQuagge, design; David Harrell, writing; Jay Williams, account.

ASU prospectus spread

– Terry Hamrick, Stein

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