The Storyboard

The Polaris team is now deep into discussions about information architecture (IA) for both psu.edu and live.psu.edu.

The latest changes on the psu.edu site include a link to a "Feedback Form" on the lower right. If you have any feedback at all on the site itself, the process, issues you've discovered, things that you think we should fix, or if you just want to take a moment to share anything -- that's the place to do it! We've been hard at work finding ways to make it easier to provide feedback, and that's one of them. 

News at Penn State flows quickly, and there is a lot of it. In the thick of the fall and spring semesters, it isn't uncommon for communicators from across Penn State's 24 campuses to submit well more than 100 pieces of content in one day. Penn State Live serves millions of visitors a year with stories, photos and videos from all corners of the University.

Yesterday we led two information sessions about the Polaris project at Foster Auditorium in Pattee Library. For those of you who attended either session in-person or online, the Polaris team would like to thank you for attending. We were very happy about the turnout and the questions posed. As mentioned at both sessions, we welcome you to contact us at storyboard@psu.edu with any questions or feedback you may have regarding the project as changes continue to be made to the site.

As part of ongoing efforts to keep the University community informed about the the Polaris team's approach to the redesign process, two Penn State Web project information sessions will be held, from 10-11 a.m. and from 1-2 p.m., on April 18 in Foster Auditorium at Paterno Library on the University Park campus. Several key team members will be on hand to provide insight into the Polaris redesign process and to answer questions. The sessions are free and open to the public. You can also follow the April 18 sessions on Adobe Connect at https://meeting.psu.edu/webtownhall or on Twitter using the hashtag #psusite.

It is no easy task to redesign a website. Oftentimes a website is a person's initial experience with an organization. From this experience, first impressions form quickly about an organization's brand. If the person has a favorable online experience and impression, they are likely to return to an organization's site. If the experience and impression is less than favorable, an organization may "lose" that person indefinitely.

As co-leads of this redesign, Marcus Robinson and I are fortunate to be able to count on a talented group of volunteers from across the University who are up to the challenge of redesigning psu.edu.

We're rolling along toward the grand relaunch with stellar work from all teams.

For example, in the past few weeks, several members of the Research, Assessment and Analytics, and Content teams have been working on the underpinnings of the new home page toward the first draft of its information architecture, which will determine and organize content.

So what's the plan for the content? When all the technical points of content, including accessibility tags and the content management system, are ironed out, content comes down to something everyone can relate to: telling Penn State's story.

How will we tell our story? By showing it. We'll show what we do for the general public, for prospective and current students, and for the local, state, and global communities. We'll show our achievements in academics, research, and international reach. We'll show our diversity of ideas and people as well as our contributions to the world near and far through arts, sciences, humanities, engineering--you name it. We'll show users what the Penn State experience is all about.

Many hands already have gone into the creation of the foundation for the content of the new site and we're moving forward to share upcoming tasks with the broader team membership. Lots of Penn Staters on various teams are volunteering their expertise and skills to this project. We're proud to see their dedication as we tell Penn State's story together.

Many Polaris teams are buzzing with activity, and that includes the Creative Team.

The Creative Team is having almost daily brainstorming discussions over bowls of M&Ms and tables littered with caffeinated beverages about current web-related design trends and research. Toss in some lively volleying of ideas about how we translate our brand strengths visually, and some serious rubbing of red eyes after researching the virtues of content management system (CMS) capabilities.

So, does this mean design for the new Penn State web site has actually started? Yes, it has.

What happens before a brand new web design actually unfolds on screen is worth every ounce of energy and every bottle of Visine. Good visual design is based not only on inspiration, but also on information. And right now, there is a lot of information to digest. A creative retreat with other Polaris teams helped us learn about the need for navigation based on user perspective, and the design changes we are making during the iterations will drive creative direction for the new web site. Our content team is guiding us on information architecture, and the feedback we get from usability studies and our campus community is giving us a window into the day-to-day user experience.

When the flowcharts and scribbles on whiteboards are finally erased and the smoking coffee pot gets tossed in the trash after burning its last cup of coffee, we know our efforts will be well worth it: a new web presence that tells the world what Penn State is really all about, the great things this university is doing, and how everyone can be a part of it.