Website of DreamsIf You Build it, Will They Come?

ROGUE ELEMENT : PROMET SOURCE : #MCS2

John Nollin

@prometsource

Promet Sourcewww.prometsource.com

Rogue Elementwww.rogue-element.com

Rob Coleman

@rogueelementinc @mwskatecast

Allison Manley

The Problem

Goals for the New Site

• Smaller site

• Easier publishing workflow

• Represent the brand

• Express Grinnell’s distinctiveness

• Bring ALL users back

• Build a new information architecture

Step 1: The Audit

Audit: Key Findings

• Brand was strong for Grinnellians,

but not at all for the uninitiated

• Navigation was a mess

• Drupal Issues

• User Engagement

“It looks like the website for a bank.”

“I can’t find anything on this site.”

What We Heard

Prospective StudentsDuring your last visit to the Grinnell

College website, were you able to

find what you were looking for?

During your last visit to the Grinnell

College website, were you able to

find what you were looking for?

Current Students

The CMS

Engagement

Step 2: The Process

“A brand we can all be proud of.”

Concept Statements

• Home & Horizon

• Unexpected

• Individuality

Prototyping “Individuality”

Design #1

Design #2

Design #3

Customized Tile System

Top = Curated

Below = User’s Choice

How About a Custom Tile?

Create An Account

Performance

Other Benefits

• No roles-based navigation:

the masthead is uber-simple.

• Truly makes the home page the hub

from which you could go.

Office / Department Pages

Wireframes

Content: “feed the beast!”

> 1200 Fields < 350 Fields

Step 3: Infrastructure

Content Strategy

• Page count reduced from

27,000 to 5,000 pages

• Supporting a new publishing workflow

Consolidating Tiles?

Taxonomy

Balancing Control and Autonomy

Did it Work? Will They Come?

User Testing

Results to Date

• Challenging users to generate

current content

• Initial launch — iterative

changes as feedback comes in

Could Other Schools Replicate This?

• Can you sell it internally?

• Do you have an agreed-upon brand?

• Can you get buy-in from departments?

• Do you want a site that’s an evolving story?

• Can you assign a Product Owner?

• Can you feature-freeze?

Threats?

• They may say things you don’t want to hear

• It is difficult to change behaviors

• More content = More content management

Benefits?

• Authentic communication

• Engages the school community

• Puts the school into real conversations

• Provides real utility to users

• Meaningful and useable administration

and workflow

Thank you!

John Nollinjohn@prometsource.com

@PrometSource

Rob Colemanrob@rogue-element.com

@rogueelementinc

Allison Manley@mwskatecast

Grinnell images by Justin Hayworth