IU Communications

The Indiana University School of Informatics was the first School of Informatics in the nation. After the school was founded in 2000, the design and structure of its website remained essentially the same for a decade. During that time, many different people were responsible for the site’s maintenance, resulting in an inconsistent and disjointed experience. The site relied on many systems to manage and publish content that were outdated and poorly maintained, and, as there was no content plan in place, the site did not have up-to-date information about new programs or structural changes within the school (e.g., addition of computer science, reorganization, and possible name change).

To address these issues, as well as to utilize the website as a marketing tool to enhance the school’s image and strengthen student recruitment efforts, the school issued a request for proposals to find an agency to provide a comprehensive redesign.

Scope of work included:

• Site-wide information architecture
• Creative direction for an interactive navigation scheme
• Content development, including message development, writing, and editing for all areas outlined in the information architecture
• Two to three unique home page designs
• Two to three design concepts for second- and third-tier pages
• Design concepts for templates with structured content areas, such as news, events, courses, faculty and staff bios
• Design concepts for templates for academic program areas, research groups, and other user-manager pages
• Multimedia development and consultation
• Social media strategy
• WCMS implementation

Team

The project started with a research/discovery phase that included stakeholder interviews and focus groups with prospective and current students (undergraduate and graduate).

There were a total of 40 stakeholders who were interviewed individually or in small group settings. The stakeholders established the goals and objectives for the redesign and identified the target audiences. IU Communications conducted the stakeholder interviews.

The User Experience Group at Indiana University conducted three focus groups with prospective students and current students. The findings from the focus groups showed that students wanted to see more consistency in the visual design on the website throughout its pages, and that they wanted a bright, modern design rather than a traditional or classic academic website design. In addition, the students wanted to see more photos, videos, and personal stories from students, faculty, and staff.

IU Communications conducted one focus group with high school students who had shown an interest in the field to gain insights into their use of websites and social media sites (such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) as well as their understanding of the fields of study and the potential jobs they might get with a degree in informatics or computer science.

Finally, usability testing was performed on the site after the initial design concepts were presented. The usability testing focused on asking representative users to find information and perform tasks on the site. The tester provider a detailed report on the problems users were having with the site at this stage, and those issues were resolved in the final design execution.

The biggest challenge for the School of Informatics and Computing is that many prospective students and their parents do not understand what informatics or computing are. Defining what students could do with a degree in informatics or computer science and the types of jobs they could get after graduation were critical communications goals.

Social media was another challenge – the school had limited resources for maintaining social media websites but felt its participation in every available social media was essential. Research showed that although prospective students were aware of a variety of social media channels, they spent most of their time on Facebook and YouTube. This research enabled us to work with the school to develop a social media strategy that focused their efforts and resources in the right places for connecting with their target audiences.

Finally, there was the challenge of creating a superior user experience that reflected the school’s brand effectively. The School of Informatics and Computing teaches students how to design websites for an optimal user experience, so it was important for the website to reflect the best practices in the field. A web committee made up of the school’s faculty, staff, and students partnered with us throughout the project, and they provided advice and ideas throughout the redesign process but also relied on the expertise of the IU Communications team for their practical, real-world experience in website design and development at Indiana University.

The overarching strategy for the website was to enhance the image of the school on the web and attract more undergraduate and graduate students. In 2008, Computerworld named Indiana University an IT school to watch, and faculty members were gaining national and international prominence for their research as well as their interdisciplinary approach to education. Clearly the school needed a website that reflected its prominence and that effectively engaged potential students.

The goals for the website strategy were achieved by focusing on storytelling. The "Experience" module on the home page is a repository for photos and videos that go behind the scenes to show visitors what life is like inside the school. This module is easy to maintain and gives the internal web team the ability to update photos and videos through the university’s web content management system.

Another powerful storytelling component is the "Discover" module. The "Discover" module is where prospective students explore through a fun, interactive word cloud how a degree in informatics or computer science aligns with other interests, and how gaining knowledge and skills in emerging technology fields can increase their marketability after graduation. After the student selects their area of interest, the payoff is a detailed page of information about related degree options, research opportunities, and personal stories from students.

In addition to the website strategy, we also developed a two-level social media strategy. The Bread & Butter strategy (level one) focused on strategic connections to build an online community, create good word-of-mouth and ongoing online buzz, and determine ownership and governance of social media accounts. The "Awesomeness Factor" strategy (level two) provided ideas on how the school could take its social media engagement to the next level by designing its own Twitter API and using social media to show classes and research work in real time.

The new site was launched in August 2010, right at the start of a new academic year. The site was an immediate hit with undergraduate students and prospective students. They liked the visual design and interactivity of the site, and how it was different from other school websites.

View the redesigned School of Informatics and Computing website »

Traffic to the site has increased by 50 percent overall, and visitors on spending just over 7 percent more time on site. There has also been an increase in traffic from India, China, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Homepage Dashboard

Prospective Students > Computer Science

Prospective Students > Informatics

Prospective Students > Graduate Admissions > How to Apply

Research

Faculty

Development of the site took approximately ten months from research to launch. The total budget, including information architecture, design, and content development, was $59,150.

In addition to increased traffic and time spent on the site, the website was named the best School/University Website by the Webby Awards, the organization that honors the best of the web. The School of Informatics and Computing website edged out entries from MIT, the School of Visual Arts, and the University of Victoria to win both the judges' award and the People's Voice Award.

The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. Established in 1996 during the Web's infancy, the Webbys are presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which includes an Executive 750-member body of leading Web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities.

"Developing a website in a large university-based tech school is a complex undertaking. Our partners at IU Communications were quite skilled at understanding the needs of diverse stakeholders, many of whom were web experts, while never losing focus of the primary audience, prospective students. Our site analytics, along with two Webby Awards, prove the effectiveness of IU Communications' approaches."
Jim Shea, Director of Planning, IU Bloomington School of Informatics and Computing