IUB launches new Web site to emphasize beauty, opportunity

The Office of the Provost decided IU’s Web site, www.iub.edu, needed a change after seven years with the same design.

The new Web site, launched May 18, aims to play a more functional role and will give people a sense of beauty and opportunity, said Michael Nelson, publications and graphics director for Office of the Provost.  

Nelson said research for the Web site had been going on for the past couple of years. The Office of the Provost was able to come up with items people would be interested in looking at on the Web site, Nelson said.

“We wanted to come out with a site that served all of the audiences for a college Web site: prospective and current students, faculty, staff,” Nelson said. “We want people to know what it’s like to be in Bloomington.”

Nelson said the project began in December, and the Office of the Provost partnered with the IU Public Affairs and Government Relations and its creative services divisions.

Nelson said the site’s new design was originally based on IU-Purdue University Indianapolis’ site design, and the IUPUI Communications and Marketing Web team helped out with site management practices and designs.

Co-director of IU’s Office of Creative Services Rebecca Salerno said a Web advisory committee helped get a feel for what Web designs people like the best.

“We wanted to emphasize the beauty of the campus,” Salerno said. “There are several features displaying photographs of the campus. We created a page about IU traditions on campus, like the Little 500, IUDM and some important people, like Herman B Wells.”

Salerno said a main goal was to show the campus’ personality through multimedia such as videos and slideshows.  

“We want this to be a site in which people can navigate more smoothly,” Salerno said.  
Web site visitors can submit questions and feedback about the new design, Salerno said. Salerno said the process isn’t complete: The Office of Creative Services will research the popularity of certain pages on the site.

“We will be fine tuning and also looking at statistics (of) which pages are most popular and preferences to which videos people are watching the most,” she said.