Redesign Updates – April 1
Thanks so much to everyone who has commented, emailed and called about the ongoing redesign process. We have received invaluable input from students, faculty and staff all across the Vanderbilt community.
Last week, we had an evening focus group with several current Vanderbilt students. They did a card sort for the current Students second level page, and also provided lots of feedback on the homepage redesign. We’re continuing to meet with groups and talk with individuals about their questions and concerns.
Based on your feedback, we’ve already made several adjustments that are visible in the preview pages:
- Using serif fonts for the headers
- Reduced the size of almost all of the text (we haven’t reduced the main navigation bar text – though we’re playing with that!)
- Linking News, Events, VUCast headers
- Flipped the layout on the lower level (News is now on the left, had been on the right)
- Updated search box to have a button with hover effect
Other changes haven’t yet been pushed to the preview pages – but can be seen in the screenshot on the right. We’re still working on navigational issues (both content and functionality); combining the news and events into one section; re-implementing a fat footer that was in a previous wireframe; working with different version of the Vanderbilt logo; and continuing to find ways to include more color on the second levels (in addition to the photography that will be prevalent on all those pages).
As you’ll notice if you read through the comments, design and aesthetics are very subjective. While one group loves whitespace and the openness, others prefer blocked off areas; while one person likes the big elements, another doesn’t. Some love the dropdowns, some don’t. We know it’s impossible to please all of the people all of the time, but we greatly appreciate your feedback. :)
Please continue to share your thoughts in the Comments section – we’ll be taking input through April 9.