Department page design mockups
Hi everyone,
As you may know, I was in Gambier yesterday to discuss the new Kenyon.edu site design. It was a great day of work, and I'd like to thank to everyone that we talked to. (You know who you are.) Some genuinely new ideas came from those conversations, which is really exciting.
(You'll also notice a new look in the space to the left there. Some folks think the angels are a bit overused— even though this is just the redesign blog and not the design itself, it's probably good to swap that photo out once in a while.)
In general we've heard a lot of positive feedback about the new homepage design. Some of the comments in the blog were echoed in person. But all in all, most people we talked to either were happy with it, or said it was growing on them. We're making a few changes in response to the feedback we've gotten, which we'll go through when the next update to the homepage design is posted. If any of you want to comment on the homepage design, feel free to continue to post comments at that link (or here— or wherever you want, really).
But now, let's take a look at the departmental site designs. Our goal was to create a basic template for these that is much more flexible than current department websites, which most everyone agrees look pretty much identical right now, and don't reflect departments' individuality at all. However, they can't be completely different; obviously there have to be some uniting elements, so they'll look related, work together, and match the homepage nicely.
In the design we're suggesting, each department page will have a single row of three photos at the top. The first photo should be a striking, abstract photo related to the department's area of study. The second should depict the department's physical building. The third should show people, students and/or faculty of the department, engaged in academic work. The photos can rotate if enough good-quality shots are available.
Each department will also be able to choose its own accent color, which will be used in several places throughout the departmental site. And there will be a few content layout options as well. In addition to the shots at the top of the page, departments can include images on their home pages as needed. As designers, we hope they're good photos too. But there's more leeway there.
So here we go! We've taken three departments as examples of the different possibilities here. Each of Kenyon's departments will be able to make independent decisions; these are just mockups. We have taken the content from the current pages in most cases; it's a guideline for how we think departments might proceed, but final decisions about both graphic choices and content will be made by the departments and Public Affairs.
Department of Political Science
Department of Biology
Department of Mathematics
Click below to post a comment (and remember, you don't have to sign up for an account to comment— but we do ask that you state your name and relation to Kenyon). Have a great weekend!
As you may know, I was in Gambier yesterday to discuss the new Kenyon.edu site design. It was a great day of work, and I'd like to thank to everyone that we talked to. (You know who you are.) Some genuinely new ideas came from those conversations, which is really exciting.
(You'll also notice a new look in the space to the left there. Some folks think the angels are a bit overused— even though this is just the redesign blog and not the design itself, it's probably good to swap that photo out once in a while.)
In general we've heard a lot of positive feedback about the new homepage design. Some of the comments in the blog were echoed in person. But all in all, most people we talked to either were happy with it, or said it was growing on them. We're making a few changes in response to the feedback we've gotten, which we'll go through when the next update to the homepage design is posted. If any of you want to comment on the homepage design, feel free to continue to post comments at that link (or here— or wherever you want, really).
But now, let's take a look at the departmental site designs. Our goal was to create a basic template for these that is much more flexible than current department websites, which most everyone agrees look pretty much identical right now, and don't reflect departments' individuality at all. However, they can't be completely different; obviously there have to be some uniting elements, so they'll look related, work together, and match the homepage nicely.
In the design we're suggesting, each department page will have a single row of three photos at the top. The first photo should be a striking, abstract photo related to the department's area of study. The second should depict the department's physical building. The third should show people, students and/or faculty of the department, engaged in academic work. The photos can rotate if enough good-quality shots are available.
Each department will also be able to choose its own accent color, which will be used in several places throughout the departmental site. And there will be a few content layout options as well. In addition to the shots at the top of the page, departments can include images on their home pages as needed. As designers, we hope they're good photos too. But there's more leeway there.
So here we go! We've taken three departments as examples of the different possibilities here. Each of Kenyon's departments will be able to make independent decisions; these are just mockups. We have taken the content from the current pages in most cases; it's a guideline for how we think departments might proceed, but final decisions about both graphic choices and content will be made by the departments and Public Affairs.
Department of Political Science
Department of Biology
Department of Mathematics
Click below to post a comment (and remember, you don't have to sign up for an account to comment— but we do ask that you state your name and relation to Kenyon). Have a great weekend!
posted by Jason Pontius, White Whale at 6:20 PM
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