Website Re-Design: Jenny Knodell & Megan Shorter
Project IV asked us to redesign an existing website with major design flaws. We chose to improve upon the layout, content, and navigation of the GVSU Department of Philosophy homepage (Original Version).
To see the redesigned website, click here.
Design Flaws
Navigation: Not only was there a lack of headings to direct viewers, but text size was varied and inconsistent. Website visitors were not given a direct focal point on the page and subsequent visual markers to guide them throughout the page. The only actions to be performed by viewers was clicking on one of the left navigation options or scrolling down the page. Upon scrolling down the page, blocks of text were separated by only a narrow line, missing any form of consistent contrast (i.e. color, size, or font) to distinguish new topics and/or content.
Organization & Content: The organization and selection of content within the main homepage lacks a clear focus for audience. While there are a number of audiences (students, faculty, job seekers, etc.), the organization of content should be divided to provide clear sections for each particular audience. The existing organization forced students to scroll through information not pertaining to them in order to find relevant content. The same holds true for other audiences. Not only would the existing homepage benefit from better organization, an additional navigation bar would eliminate the unnecessary need for viewers to scroll. Anchored links within the text would allow viewers to scan a brief list rather than lengthy content.
Contrast: While the grey-white color scheme does provide a minimal amount contrast, a third color could be used to emphasize the organizational structure while providing a stronger level of contrast.
Layout/Alignment: The website could benefit from utilizing the entire screen. The main body text and header cut off two-thirds across the screen creating a harsh line that is disrupted by the presence of navigation options in the far right.
Improvements
Organization: In redesigning the Philosophy homepage, we focused first on organization by taking the content and re-arranging it into different sections (about, news, job openings), since students, faculty, alumni and perspective students are all users and need to find specific information amongst the content. The large grey section of course descriptions was changed to a link under the news section since it took up so much space yet the information it contained was only for a select audience.
Layout/Contrast: In adding unified headlines, consistent colors and text sizes, the page is now more aesthetically pleasing and organized. Sections have been divided by lines so users know when a new one has started. The color scheme was changed to include black and blue accents in addition to the white and grey. By using these accent colors, the page theme is more unified, an element of contrast is added, and the page organization is more easily achieved.
Navigation: We created a right-hand navigation box with contact information, calendar of events and quick links to each different section of content, therefore highlighting important information in an easily-accessible location, eliminating the trouble of scrolling and expanding the page to use the entire screen.
Banner: The banner has been redesigned to include the new accent colors, a graphic whose head isn’t cut off, and a larger and more distinct banner text.
Content: The about section’s content has been re-organized and trimmed down to exclude redundant information. In clarifying the content we
Photographs/Images: The photograph has been centered, enlarged, moved below the text and now contains a stroke. The news section, which features an article about a distinguished alumna-in-residence, contained a picture of six different people. We cropped the photo down to a mug shot since the article is about one individual’s achievements.