Goals




Goals
At the beginning of the spring semester of 2017 The Office of Marketing and Communications conducted research to examine the current state of the main university website.
User Research
Our design team focused on gathering information from our users by putting together a series of questions. They interviewed current faculty, staff, and students about their experience with the existing website. The results helped us decide what recommendations were important for the new website.
Site Architecture
The existing University website architecture was examined in detail. This research allowed us to determine size and scope of the project. It also found duplicate content which made it difficult for users to navigate the site using site navigation and search engines.
Wireframes
After identifying our most important tasks and reviewing our site architecture we began creating low fidelity black and white wireframe prototypes. These wireframes helped us make key decisions on global navigation and visual hierarchy to our most important pages.
An iterative process with key stakeholders including faculty, staff, current, and prospective students, the initial designs evolved.
User Testing
Mobile wireframe prototype workflows were also reviewed with current students and faculty to get additional feedback.
Visual Designs
Once the user research process was complete we created components and high-fidelity prototypes in Invision to share with our internal team and stakeholders.
HTML Component Prototypes
After the visual design was completed we built the HTML for the individual components of the website. Each component is developed using HTML and JavaScript, then tested for WCAG 2.0 Level AA accessibility.
Development ranging from a new CMS version to translation of static HTML designs into dynamic web pages spanned over a year
Content Management System Improvements
In conjunction with the Office of Information Technology, a new version of the Content Management System was installed. Left behind were the 90's style designs, replaced with modern colors and a more user friendly experience.
Back-end coding
Once initial designs were approved, back-end development begun. Starting with the homepage, a new University of Nevada, Reno website experience began to take shape.
With numerous pages on the website content migration from the old CMS to the new CMS is a process and not a single day event. New content will begin February 20th and continue throughout 2019
Feedback
Have a question or comment about the new design. Please let us know.