Welcome to the first of our weekly updates, where we reflect on what the digital developments team have been doing over the past week.
Top of our agenda has been the new version of York St John’s website. During the interim period while the new site is being developed, you will see some temporary styling changes on the current website, showcasing the new brand. Our team have been making the final edits to the styling changes, ready for the launch on 19 February. Anyone visiting the York St John website after this will experience a new monochromatic colour palette and a dynamic new video on the homepage. Do let us know what you think!
Building our new website has kept our team very busy. James began running ‘card sorting’ sessions with staff and students to test our ideas about how the information on our website should be organised for our target audience. Imagine sorting through a stack of cards, each describing a question that a website user might have, then grouping them into topics by laying them out on a large table, and you get the picture. Using the results of this and other data sets, he has been mapping out the new information architecture of the site.
To support this work, Tom has been writing a set of user stories that describe the need for a feature, from the user’s perspective. Going behind the scenes of the site, Joharé has been working on implementing “programmable layouts” in Terminal Four, our content management system. These will offer website editors greater page layout flexibility, through the customisation of content types. They will also simplify the decision over what content types should be used on a page, making our lives a whole lot easier. We like it when we get the chance to do that.
Speaking of simplifying change, Dom has been helping put the ‘brand toolkit’ online. This resource will soon be available to support you through the rollout of the new brand design. Absolute, the design agency we are currently partnering with, have provided us with some fresh new designs that Daniel has been developing this week. Watch this space for the exciting developments of website construction. The exchange between design and execution is always a fascinating process. Trust us.
Inspired by Daniel’s work, Scott has been making creative use of the diverse expertise in our team, by learning to code in addition to his usual tasks. It’s brilliant to be reminded that digital development can refer to that of our team members as well as our facilities! This week Scott has also been updating images across the website, inline with the new brand toolkit, so enjoy spotting the new photographs of our campus over the next few months.
Meanwhile, Matt has been designing the new desktop screen that you will also notice appearing on all computers across campus soon. Ensuring that it works with the new brand, he is also exploring how the new brand influences the design of the current Information Learning and Estates webpages.
A new digital campus map, too? Yes indeed. We are developing an interactive map that will allow website visitors to search for amenities across our campuses and read detailed information about the buildings and their facilities. Over the last week, Daniel has created new backend architecture for this map and Tom has designed mock-ups of how the user interface for the map could work. Soon, you might find yourself using or directing people to this page on a daily basis to navigate the buildings – so get in touch if you have any ideas of how this might be useful to you.
Sarah is on a mission to overhaul the student life pages on our website, and has spent the week rewriting the current content. This will find its way to your screens over the coming weeks and will be incorporated into the design of the new website. Expect to see more detailed depictions of your city in all its glory, with lots of handy hints about the local area, aimed at prospective students.
We also welcome Kathryn to the team this week, who has joined us as a Content Officer and will be working with Sarah to write content for our course pages. Using our refreshed tone of voice and new branding toolkit, these pages will adopt a more appealing style, addressing those frequently asked questions we all know and love.
Kudos for reading through our updates for this week! You have just made a hearty contribution to our university’s digital development. Not hearty enough for you? If you would like to offer any feedback on the new design or any suggestions for the new site – please get in touch via website@yorksj.ac.uk!
