Project: Palomar.edu WOW Redesign
Prepared by: Web Design Team
(Kelly Helming, Web Coordinator; Chris Norcross, Systems Administrator; Margie Adcock, Lead Graphics Specialist; Deanna Shoop, Manager of Outreach Services; Aaron Holmes, Alternate Media Specialist, DRC)
Last updated: 11/9/17
“Our mission is to provide an engaging teaching and learning environment for students of diverse origins, experiences, needs, abilities, and goals. As a comprehensive community college, we support and encourage students who are pursuing transfer-readiness, general education, basic skills, career and technical training, aesthetic and cultural enrichment, and lifelong education.
We are committed to helping our students achieve the learning outcomes necessary to contribute as individuals and global citizens living responsibly, effectively, and creatively in an interdependent and ever-changing world.”
–Palomar Community College Mission Statement
Project Vision Statement
The Palomar.edu WOW (Wow Our Web) Redesign project exists to enhance the user experience of visitors to Palomar Community College’s website (Palomar.edu). Palomar.edu dispenses information about its academic and technical programs to a wide-ranging demographic. In addition to serving a diverse student population, Palomar.edu’s audience includes faculty, staff, educational partners, the community at large, and local businesses. The institution’s vision statement, “Learning for Success,” relates to existing and prospective degree, transfer, certificate and CTE learners. Therefore, Palomar.edu should reinforce the vision statement site-wide. To that end, the website’s central goals include: provide a clear wayfinding experience that is pleasing, consistent, and accessible; reiterate Palomar’s established brand messages; invite visitors to share the Palomar experience; and engage and solicit action from its guests.
Guiding Principles
These are the values that will guide all our work on this project and constitute the core values of the design process.
Simplified Wayfinding
Palomar College seeks to communicate a vast amount of information via its website. The design should allow quick access to pertinent content within one click from the homepage via methods such as deep drop-down menus, search bars, quick links, an a-z index, and clear calls to action. Information should be presented in component pieces; and visual hierarchy and images used to tell the user where to look first.
Clean and Consistent
A fresh, pleasing, uncluttered design that is image-rich and visually and kinesthetically consistent across the entire site will create a positive user experience. Various screen sizes from desktop to mobile smartphone should load the site suitably while retaining the integrity of the design.
Universal
The layout and usability of the website should facilitate access to all visitors equally and without unnecessarily compromising aesthetics or information delivery. Access for the user, across devices and demographics, should be intuitive and accessible.
Cause to Engage
Palomar.edu should engage the viewer with compelling visual stories of learning through innovation as well as Palomar’s success from the classrooms to its support services and finally within the community. Palomar.edu should take the visitor to moments of intrigue and feeling through genuine stories of individual faculty, students, staff members and teams.
Lead to Action
Palomar.edu should contain interactive opportunities for visitors to engage with Palomar College departments and programs, driving said visitors to action. Prospective students should be empowered to take ownership of their admissions and enrollment processes with visual tools and downloadable resources.
Goals
The following goals are specific, measurable outcomes from the project. Each goal carries equal weight.
Adaptive
Page layouts shall be designed as fully responsive and will adapt to a variety of screen sizes. In addition to presentation on desktop and laptop screens, pages will scale or redraw for handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets.
Accessible
The site template and CMS theme shall comply with WCAG 2.0 Level AA accessibility standards. To achieve and maintain ongoing site-wide compliance, routine accessibility checks shall occur. Users shall have a means to submit feedback regarding accessibility issues or concerns.
Compliant
The Palomar logo mark and colors shall be clearly and consistently displayed throughout the site and per the Graphic Standards and Style Manual (https://www.palomar.edu/guidelines/). Where applicable, written messages shall coincide with the institution’s overall messages. All written content shall adhere to the rules of grammar and spelling found in the Graphic Standards and Style Manual.
Consistent
The interface shall be a well-defined navigational schema that is site-wide and centers on the user. To achieve a natural wayfinding experience, interface components shall be consistent and predictable in their physical placement and visual presentation. The information architecture shall retain the general design of the existing site to the degree that it will be familiar to a current user without sacrificing usability.
Inviting
The look and feel of the entire site shall engage the user through a visually pleasing and impactful design. Where applicable, images shall be large and engaging. Imagery shall illustrate ethnic diversity and convey the Palomar experience. The home page shall provide clearly-defined entry points to the following educational pathways for prospective, new and current students: transfer, AA/AS degrees, certificate programs, and career/technical education certification. In addition, the following group shall have prominent but visually secondary pathways from the home page: business partners, community, donors, and alumni.
Diverse
The home page shall have a prominent area devoted to the diverse stories that comprise the Palomar experience. Content shall include but not be limited to: academic programs and achievements, institutional achievements, athletic achievements, community events, news. Notwithstanding the limitations and possible inaccuracies, on-the-fly translation shall be universally incorporated into the site.