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Intelligence
I’m listening. Tell me your version of the story.

Intelligence

I’m listening. Tell me your version of the story.

Dec 28, 2011By mStoner Staff

All elements of a website should be carefully woven together to inspire and tell a compelling story about the institution. Easier said than done, right? Your .edu website works hard and serves many audiences. Most would agree that:

  • The ideal reaction when an alum looks at the site is, Yes, that reminds me of the school I knew and loved.
  • The ideal reaction when a 16-year-old visits the site is, Oh, that feels like the kind of place where Id fit in.

So how do you get to the essence of an institution? How do you discover what’s unique and special about a school or campus so that you can use what you find out in the visual design, features, and copy of a website?

My best advice? Don’t make assumptions. Don’t assume you already know the story.

All of our client engagements begin with a strategy phase and we have a process for the discovery work that becomes the foundation for a web relaunch project. During strategy, we do a deep divewe take a number of steps to uncover the detail and discover the gems well need to build an incredible web presence. One of the steps we take is referred to as intake.

Intake is a series of small group meetings that we host onsite. We come to campus and talk face-to-face with a range of individuals including current students, faculty, senior leadership, and staff in offices like admissions, marketing, communications, and IT. Sometimes, we include groups of alumni, prospective students, and parents. What we hear during these sessions gives us a sense of the campus communitythe collective vision and valuesand helps us understand the substance. We hear versions of the institutional story.

But listening to the people who show up for the onsite group meetings we facilitate is just the beginning of the discovery work. Here are some additional recommendations to go along with intake:

      • review social media sites
      • audit the current website
      • analyze the sites of peer or competitor institutions
      • read strategic plans, communication plans, recent news, admissions materials, and alumni publications
      • consider brand and visual identity guidelines

If your goal is translating the ethos of your community into a vibrant web design with just the right tone for the content, do some discovery. Listen up!