Best chart ever
Filed under: Design, UX, Usability, User Experience, Web Design
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Don’t forget the title text.
Been there, done that. I’m actually building a website for a private highschool, and I can’t wait to send this chart to one of the staffers :)
This is so true. Love the chart, love the thinking behind it. Now, I’d love to see it get put to use on a major university site….
hahahhahaaha. so true
Insert shameless plug for the university website we just launched. I’d say it’s a 30/70 left/right split.
http://www.wsc.ma.edu/
Yes, but he forgot “girls under trees.” Unfortunate.
Having recently left a position as “Manager of Web Services” at a .edu … all I can say is that I’m in tears of laughter… and / or curled up in a ball reliving the horrors of my past …
That is SO true
@Jay Fanelly, nice work!
that’s a proper way to do it :)
If you attend or work at the school, you should have the campus police number in your phone and not have to go to a website to find it. If you need the police, do you really have time to go to a website to find a number?
As a web designer for an educational institution (technically a training center and not so much a university) this is a good chart to see. Hits a few sore spots but is necessary.
The most unfortunate thing so far about designing for an educational institution is the amount of consideration that has to be given to bureaucratic organizations such as accrediting bodies, people who are responsible for determining if your school is eligible for financial aid. Often times things like your mission statement are things accrediting bodies demand to see plastered all over the place, and if its not on your home page, you’re in a tough spot. I am dealing with this now as our school goes through a renewal of our accreditation.
So there is always this balance to juggle between good design and red tape in the world of educational web sites.
@RJ Great idea. Where do I get it in the first place?
Also worth noting is how university sites frequently use verbiage and jargon, even for main navigation, that makes sense to the university but not at all for normal people who are just entering that world. The language has always been the number one most confusing thing about university sites for me.
An example is the concept of “courses” vs “classes”. In the academic world a “class” is an individual meeting of students for a few hours, but a “course” is the full collection of “classes” and is generally what people are thinking of when they think “I want to take a class.” We wanted to make the change from “Courses” to “Classes” on our own site to meet normal peoples expectations, but got a subtle slap on the wrist when trying to alter decades of conventional university verbiage.
I can definitely say that in my position there is a constant friction between trying to make things simple and easy for users, and trying to please the authorities in bureaucratic positions. Which may not be unique to educational sites, but it happens more obviously due to all the rules and regulations you run into as accreditation and governing bodies come into play.
I agree with the first Eric, where is “Girls under trees”?
Igor, that’s the beauty of this chart. Despite its simple and important message, it will be ignored.
Girls Under Trees.
I have a question. I have been tasked to design a website for a Christian Private School. The grades are from nusery2 – 8th grade. I am having a difficult time coming up with a concept that meets that wide range.
All the other school sites in our city looks very much what they are amateurs. Any ideas!
ugh, I’ve lost the game. Sneaky Jeffrey!
> Now, I’d love to see it get put to use on a major university site
We’ll get right on that after we form a subcommittee and appoint co-chairs. Before we do that, we’ll need to get approval from the Dean, most of the department chairs, and let the provost know what we’re up to. Also, we can’t meet nine months out of the year because, uh, academic stuff, and then we’ll have to work in vacations and sabbaticals. Hopefully we won’t need Jim because he’s a grump. Ready? Ok, I’ll draft the memo…
> All the other school sites in our city looks very much what they are amateurs. Any ideas!
Look outside your city.
lol. of course.
don’t even get me started on the trader joe’s website.
Jeffrey I cannot believe you just got me with that.
I work at a university and this is SO TRUE!
This reminds me of the experience of creating a site for a diocese. I had a global nav link called “Learning” for people to find out about classes, courses, resources, etc. available. They told me to change it to “Education,” because they were educating people. I said “Yes, but the user wants to learn, not educate.” They were simply incapable of understanding this and could not comprehend why they should consider how the user would view it. The completed nav lists “Education.”
I work for a Minnesota University in Web development, I don’t think our pages are to difficult to navigate, there is bureaucracy on which pages are prioritized on the main page, but I don’t think that can be avoided. Thats just the reality of working for a University.
http://www.bemidjistate.edu/
As a CEO of a company that serves higher education institutions, I find this chart quite naive and inadequate.
First, “people” in the diagram is biased towards current students and perhaps prospective students. In reality, the stakeholder list is broad and includes Prospects, Current Students, Alumni, Faculty, Staff, Corporate/Foundation Partners, Media, and Accreditation Agencies.
Second, even we focus on prospective students, they are seeking answers to three big questions: (1) does the college offer what I need, (b) will I will be happy if I go there and (c) will I get a payback for my education. This chart ignores (b) and (c).
Third, if you study the latest findings by Noel Levitz presented at EduWeb last week, prospective students highly value (a) online application (b) campus visit request form, (c) cost calculator, (d) online course catalog. (See PDF for details.)
Frankly, to label this post “best chart ever” is an undeserving honor. It does great disservice to discipline of creating effective websites for higher education.
Abu Norman:
Best comment ever!
My first thought was that PC language was a must-have for any college web site. I checked the Bemidji website that was linked to in one post and there were tabs touting diversity, social justice, and being green.
Good balance of commentary, including the “best comment ever.” Universities still tend to be conservative and a bit fearful of their own tech areas as well as technology consultants and organizations that build the great websites with great usability, understanding what users want while meeting requirements.
Universities have values that often include longevity, status and stability/security and attract staffing wanting the same things. These qualities do not necessary result in awesome, cool websites except in the area of admissions and development. If you hang out with admissions or development folks, you’ll pick up a bit of different vibe. Not to be missed is that these areas tend to have seasonal staff, staff who get out and travel, and much more turnover or “churn.”