Fontbonne University
A private Catholic university in St. Louis, had little awareness in the market and was looking for a new and vibrant identity to tell their unique story.
COMPANY: DOVETAIL | ROLE: SENIOR ART DIRECTOR, UI/UX
Overview
With awareness low and perception misconstrued, Fontbonne University was committed to updating and revitalizing their identity with a new brand and website. It was our task to bring it to life.
Our approach was to conduct key stakeholder interviews with faculty, staff and students to determine what opportunities were available and key equities that may exist.
Our findings confirmed the perceptions of low awareness and consideration when making a decision on furthering education in college age students. It presented an opportunity for us to make a bold statement that supported the key strengths of the university—a small and supportive culture with challenging programs that prepare them for success.
From here, the platform Soar Higher was born. The new identity was a radical transformation from their current conservative approach that was very fragmented.
We launched a cross channel campaign including a new website, outdoor ads, radio, social and more.
The website
After conducting an audit on their previous website, we were able to determine a punch list of items that would enhance the user experience, make it easy to apply, as well as tell the new brand story.
Outside of our high level goals, there were more tactical goals that we set to better utilize the website as source of information and a marketing tool to create application conversions.
Conversions
One goal was to generate leads and collect data through applications and inquiries. We made this accessible through an ever-present sticky navigation bar with an “Apply Now,” “Request Info,” and “Give” call-to-action buttons as the focal point—tailoring to established personas (prospective students, transfer students, international and alumni). This way no matter where the user is on their journey, they is no confusion on how to take the next step.
Emphasis on courses
On the homepage, we decided to lead with course information within a few separate modules. With research suggesting that Fontbonne had robust curriculum options, we wanted to break the stigma that they didn’t have what you were looking for.
We led with a custom drop-down program search module. From here you can use drop-downs and search functionality to explore all program options available. Also, below the fold is a program highlight section that allows Fontbonne’s internal team to chose what specific programs they want to promote.
We also created a course library data source within WordPress making it easy to add/remove/update content in regard to course listings throughout the site. One change on the backend would reflect upon any landing page that was pulling that data.
Platform
By building the website through WordPress we were able to easily customize the backend for our client. Not only is WordPress user friendly to navigate, but we were able to create page types as well as page builder templates that made it a breeze for our client to build out new landing pages. We created a set of design modules based upon their needs that allowed them the flexibility to create unique looking landing pages easily, but also limited how much freedom they had in the design. This was a great compromise that allowed unique design, but kept a consistent look throughout the site.
Accessibility
As web design and devices evolve, the need for accessibility for all users is greater than ever. Within the public sector and higher education, there is even more emphasis on making your information accessible for as many users as possible. During the planning phase, ADA requirements influence not only design decisions, but development decisions as well. We use WCAG 2.0 Compliance as a guide throughout the process and integrated a UserWay accessibility plugin that is placed prominently on the page to assist individuals who need it.
Closing
The new Fontbonne brand and website are leaps and bounds from where they were from a visual and technological perspective, and we were lucky to have a client that was ready to be bold and let us help them Soar Higher.