CMU.edu Redesigned

Visitors to www.cmu.edu will notice a new look on Monday, Oct. 30. The innovative and distinctive personality of Carnegie Mellon will be better reflected through a redesigned homepage, which often marks the first point of contact for prospective students, faculty and staff.

"It was important for us to create a user-friendly experience for two sets of visitors: those who know what they're looking for on our site and those who come to cmu.edu to explore," said Marilyn Kail, assistant vice president of University Advancement's Marketing Communications.

Three university divisions — University Advancement, Computing Services and Enrollment — teamed up with Carnegie Mellon's Web Forum on the redesign project. After benchmarking the best practices in web communication and surveying faculty, staff and students across the university, they held more than a dozen focus groups with key university stakeholders.

Expert advice was also collected from university leaders, including Bill Elliott, senior vice president for Enrollment, and Dan Boyarski, head of the School of Design.

Working with Ripple Effects Interactive — the agency selected to do the design — significant testing and user feedback was incorporated into the new site. Navigation, content and design underwent testing by undergraduate and graduate students, alumni, and prospective students and their parents. Feedback sessions were also held with the Alumni Association Board.

Visitors to the new site should expect to see a highly visual page that encourages participation among users, with both audience-focused and subject-focused navigation and an expanded use of multimedia features.

Updated every weekday, five themes on the new site will highlight a range of stories unique to the university. Those themes are: practical problem solving, interdisciplinary collaboration, innovation and creativity, the global university and beyond the classroom.

Stories and photographs under each theme will highlight projects, events and experiences from Carnegie Mellon's community. Students, faculty, staff and alumni are invited to submit their stories and photos through the homepage. If you have an idea for something that tells a story unique to Carnegie Mellon, e-mail web-feedback@andrew.cmu.edu.

Jay Brown
October 26, 2006