Colgate Redesign

The Campuswide Information Committee wants to thank the nearly 300 members of the Colgate community who provided feedback on the three initial design concepts. The committee considered this data and the research results provided by the KJT Group, which used online bulletin boards to test the concepts with high school students and with Colgate alumni.

After a careful review, the committee has decided to move ahead with concept No. 2. This design approach (seen at right) was the overwhelming favorite among the test groups and those responding to our online feedback forms. Respondents spoke again and again about the clean, elegant design and how accessible and inviting it felt.

We are now working with our redesign partner, Wall to Wall Studios, on turning this early draft into a viable website that integrates the feedback and the best elements of the other concepts while maintaining the elegance and clean design to which so many people responded favorably.

Concept No. 2 will be developed with responsive design principles, so that it will function and look beautiful on all mobile devices and tablets, as well as PCs. This is a key element of our project, and we are excited about the possibilities this provides.

Again, the Campuswide Information Committee would like to thank everyone for their active participation at this key stage of the redesign project. Look for updates here as we continue to work on redesigning the university’s web presence.

The Campuswide Information Committee (CWIC) has been working with our redesign partner Wall to Wall Studios for a few months, and we have now reached the stage where we are ready to seek your input on three initial design approaches.

The design concepts you will see are sketches; much more detailed work will follow after Wall to Wall receives direction after this process. We would very much appreciate feedback on the overall look and feel of these early concepts.

We also are conducting dedicated testing through an outside firm utilizing online bulletin boards. Two groups, one made up of high school students and another of alumni, are providing us with detailed feedback on the three options.

CWIC will study all of your responses and the outside research before selecting a design concept to pursue. The web committee will then work with Wall to Wall on fine-tuning the design to ensure that we are meeting the goals and objectives of this important project.

If you are a student, faculty or staff member, use this link to view the designs. You will need to sign in to your Colgate Gmail account.

Click here if you are an alumnus or parent. You will be asked to sign in to the colgateconnect.org website, if you are not already, using your regular login credentials.

If you have any questions or problems, please email us at news@colgate.edu

(Note: The links have been been disabled as the review process is complete.)

The Campuswide Information Committee is currently reviewing a new site structure crafted by Wall to Wall. This “site map” is important because it will guide us as we move ahead and offers ways to achieve two key goals: streamlining our navigation and making critical information more accessible.

One feature of the redesigned site is a new top-level navigation section that will quickly convey key components of what Colgate offers, such as: Read the rest of this entry »

Colgate University launched its current website in January 2007, and it was recognized as having raised the bar for higher education websites. Since that time five years ago, however,  growth of the site has made it less easy to use and less reflective of the institution.

Colgate is simultaneously undergoing a strategic planning process that seeks to refresh how the university communicates its value to the outside world and increases its national stature. The output of these early discussions has informed the overall approach to this website redesign project. Read the rest of this entry »