Website redesigns at the University of San Diego take into account a completely new navigation structure (i.e. menu), design, and content strategy. Research and discovery is also included at the beginning of every project so that key stakeholders (such as prospective students and their parents) can provide feedback on their impressions and usage of the website. The following is the process we follow from start to finish:
The basis of any effective website is knowing who your school/department's customers are and what your short-term and long-term goals are. The strategic vision and direction phase helps determine the future priorities of the new website and identifies the core/primary audience that the school or department is trying to reach.
This step is facilitated by the client.
This step involves talking with external stakeholders about their needs and experience with the school/department and learning about how the current website is (or isn't) meeting those needs. This phase also helps uncover whether the department/school's perceptions are aligned with the customer's perceptions of that department/school. These findings are the basis for later decisions regarding site architecture, navigation, and design.
- Focus groups with outside audiences
- Interviews with departments and key stakeholders
- Analytics review
- Heatmap review
- Surveys
- Competitive analysis of peer/aspirational school websites
These findings are the basis for our later decisions regarding site architecture, navigation, and design.
This step is facilitated by the client.
At this point the project enters a phase where the data and information gathered in the previous stages helps define goals and objectives for the department/school moving forward. The existing content is also reviewed so that good content can be identified and the site can be trimmed of extra and unnecessary content. This will be the basis for the new site structure and where new/existing content is placed; in many cases content will be archived if it is no longer applicable or needed.
This step is facilitated by the client.
Visual appearance, although important, is only one aspect of design. The utility of the site (how well it functions) and its usability (how effectively users can navigate it) are also key factors. In many cases the core navigation structure of a website normally goes back to when the site was last redesigned. The outdated design does not serve the university's needs and the needs of prospective students. As such, we remove the "business hierarchy" from our websites and support a more user-centric and visitor-friendly form of navigating. Based on the findings in previous stages supporting content must be created and edited following the new architecture that is in place for the website.
This step is facilitated by the client.
Once the new structure of the website is established and site goals are clear, the project moves into the design phase. USD's digital design library, Camino, is heavily leveraged in any design work. To enhance the visual impact of the site, the design team specifically works toward including more graphic and media elements in the new site. Features are conceptualized, pitched, and voted upon for inclusion and prototyping. In many cases the department may opt to work with peer USD departments or consultants to garner new photography and other visual or dynamic elements during the content phase. All projects are part of an effort toward integrated marketing and branding in which different entities on campus will all have a similar look and feel, making the website instantly identifiable as belonging to USD.
This step is facilitated by the web team.
The project enters a usability testing phase once the wireframes and initial design concepts are drafted. One or more prototypes (normally the site's home page) are then validated with the website audience to ensure that the website and its features will be useful and efficient for website visitors, ahead of the actual website build.
This step is facilitated by the web team.
Content written and edited earlier in the project is migrated to the new site. Placeholders are added for imagery and videography, to be included in the next phase.
This step is facilitated by the web team.
The web team helps the customer coordinate high-quality and applicable photography for the website in the form of photographer or media professional bidding. Funding is handled through the customer department and needed assets are based on a shot sheet provided during the project. High-resolution imagery gets provided to the web team for cropping and inclusion on the new website.
This step is facilitated by the client.
As the development process winds down, there is a final review of site with team and a beta site URL is sent to key parties for internal site review. Final testing is done across supported web browsers and viewports to ensure functionality and usability.
This step is facilitated by the web team.
Content transition and content fill are facilitated through the use of USD's CMS (Cascade Server), which is the university's current web maintenance platform. Maintainers are identified in conjunction with the department overseeing the area of website, whether the core site, school website, or a departmental site. On-demand training is mandatory for CMS access.
This step is facilitated by the web team.
At the conclusion of the testing and review process, the new website is launched to the production web server (i.e. www.sandiego.edu). The old website is removed from the USD web server and archived. Periodic surveys are normally planned and distributed to gauge responsiveness to the new site and suggestions for improvements.
This step is facilitated by the web team.