Survey Results
Thank you for participating in our web redesign survey. We received over 1,000 responses! Thanks also for providing thoughtful comments and suggestions through our webform and blog. This information has guided us through the design process.
We ran two versions of the survey: one for prospective students and their parents (which we'll call "prospectives"), another for the Wesleyan community including current students, faculty, staff and alumni (which we'll call "community;" sometimes we will distinguish "alumni" as a separate group owing to their large numbers).
Below is more in-depth commentary and data about the prospective community, campus community, and alumni.
| Click to read the comments we received about the topics. | Click to see the data collected for each audience. |
Navigation
The phrase "easy to navigate" was ubiquitous in the comments received by survey participants. Pleas for the site to be "simple," "well thought out," "clearly structured," "straightforward," "organized" and "intuitively obvious" came through again and again by both community members and prospective students.
One prospective student wrote: "difficult to navigate sites get me annoyed at the university and me fearful that that the school will be difficult to deal with." Another wrote: "I generally get frustrated with confusing websites or sites where I HAVE to use the search function to find something." Another elaborated: "A "bad" (difficult to navigate and/or not very informative) university website does not generally negatively influence my perception of a university, but an easy to navigate and content-full website definitely positively influences my opinion of a college or university. It gives me the impression that the college or university is very organized and is eager to attract possible applicants and cater to current faculty and students."
There were some incongruities among participants about what general links should be part of the navigation, but these were generally anticipated. Prospective students and their parents are looking for links to admission and general information about academics. They are also interested in campus images and campus life. Our alumni are most interested in news, campus images, about the university, and events. The rest of the community is interested in seeing events, images, and academics as well as news and about the university.
There were also opinions about specific links that should be part of the navigation – among them: Athletics. Some participants simply wrote "link to athletics." An undergraduate stated: "do NOT make "Athletics" a main link on the front page. I HATE it when schools do that. I am a varsity athlete, but I do not believe that athletics should be on par with Academics. When I see university websites that have Athletics as a main link, I immediately have a negative impression of the school. So please please please, do not do it."
Photography
Notes on the importance of photography were just as robust as those emphasizing the navigation. Comments on the subject, size, means of presentation, and how often images change were all topics of discussion. The most consistent message reflected in the comments was the importance of having "excellent," "exceptional," "engaging," "compelling," "interesting," "recent," "purposeful," "large," "artsy Wes-pictures." Many noted that the survey question that asked participants to rank different types of imagery was unnecessary saying the variations were "marginal" and that "ranking the type of images felt forced—they are ALL important on a website."
Although there was a small mix of responses about how often the photos should change (e.g. "on click," "every reload"), participants consistently remarked that they "love changing photos" as in the current design with rotating images. Prospectives and the community felt the homepage images should change using a slideshow. Alumni remarked they should change weekly.
Other requests included "more historic images," photographs that "showcase campus," "photo montage[s]," "360-degree photos," and "photographic portfolios" of construction/renovation projects. In addition, desires for student artwork to be part of the image selection were mentioned as well as the following: "Allow Wes students to post a link to their campus photographs on the website."
One prospective parent explained the impact that the images displayed on the Wesleyan homepage had on her daughter's college decision process. She wrote: "Wesleyan became of my daughter's top choices due in part to the web page: when we first visited the website, there was a great picture of Barack Obama which we thought was very cool. When we returned another time the home page had a picture of some Buddhist monks which we also thought was cool. These pictures on the homepage really helped us see that Wesleyan was in touch with what was happening in the world and we wanted to learn more. We still talk about how we loved the those pictures and how it got Wesleyan on our list. We look forward to returning and seeing what the next picture will be."
Design
Participants had many opinions about the design of the website. In harmony with the desire for a simple navigation, similar ideals helped describe an overall desirable "look and feel" for the new Wesleyan website in the comments. Again and again words and phrases such as "clean," "simple," "streamlined," "less clutter," "less is more" were used to iterate this. For example, one person summed it up by declaring: "I prefer simple well-functioning to something covered in glitter and glue."
In addition to clarity, there was a related request for a "consistent layout" and a "cohesive design" throughout the site. Design pleas for the site to possess a "sharp aesthetic," be " visually interesting," "fresh," "elegant," "classy," "dignified," "welcoming," and "fun" resonated throughout the comments. One alum said: "make the homepage visually interesting so that it's just the start of the experience." A prospective student vocalized: "If it's a poorly designed website, I start to wonder about the school itself." Another wrote: "Aesthetics play a role, but usability is more important."
Spirit
A strong push for the design of the website to reflect the "creative artistic energy" and "spirit and character" of Wesleyan was evident, especially among comments from alumni participants. The community understands the importance of the website as a "portrait of the school" and asserted there should be "something unique and memorable about the design." One faculty wrote: "I hope our website strategy is to emphasize the distinctive Wes values of cultural diversity, intellectual/scientific/artistic excitement, supportive community, etc." An alum wrote: "Please keep the Wesleyan "uniqueness" in the new website." Another alum wrote: "Wesleyan is unusual and [in my humble opinion] that personality needs to be reflected in the design." One prospective student paralleled the comments of many alum saying "…there was nothing on the home page about student life or about what makes Wesleyan unique, which seemed odd to me because Wes has such a reputation for uniqueness. It was not until my campus visit that I found out about these things.
Prospective students and parents continually echoed the importance of the website encapsulating the character of the university and repeatedly mentioned how much websites serve as the first and lasting impression of schools. Prospective students talked about how the website gives a "feel for the school," "an aura of the university." One wrote: "The website plays a big role in first impression, especially prior to an actual campus visit. Depending on how much I like the website, it plays a huge role in determining how much I 'like' the school—the feel of it"
An incoming frosh noted: "a website of a college offers a quick glimpse of the personality of the college. Each facet of the website – it's overall look, the content, and it's focus on either academics or athletics or other – shapes part of the identity of the school."
Another prospective student explained: "Without a campus visit, browsing the website is the closest I come to getting a "vibe" for the campus community, values, student and academic life, etc. Obviously viewing the website is not the end-all – I could love a school whose site is messy and dysfunctional or hate a school whose site is world-class. But it is more likely I will pursue more information on a school if the website catches my interest." Another wrote: "It can give a feel for the school, as to its interest in arts, or whether it is much more traditional feeling, or even if its website is poorly designed, implying that it is somewhat out of touch with technology."
Another prospective student enlightened: "[it] shines a window on the technological and artistic commitment and philosophy of the university. A boring website with poor underlying structure would be enough to turn me away from the institution."
Multimedia
A number of our more tech-savvy community members made a plea to minimize the use of different technologies such as Flash and JavaScript to help make the pages load at a maximum speed. There were also many requests for more video and to help "integrate video in new and creative ways."
But, just as some desired video on the homepage, others clearly defied this. One undergraduate reminded: "Please keep the homepage simple! It's meant to be a gateway, not a multimedia smorgasborg." An alum echoed this, pleading: "Don't put too many bells and whistles!!! If you load it up with video, sound, etc it will be sensory overload, take too long to load, and seem desperate. Just have a nice picture, some standard links about the university, and a blurb about a couple new things going on in the Wes community."
Survey results indicated that the main web technologies used by our audiences are: YouTube, iTunes, and FaceBook. Many also use some type of texting and community members including alumni read blogs.
Some alumni expressed a desire for there to be more readily available content about "the issues the campus is grappling with – and have ways to weigh in, with my historical perspective, as an alumna," another requested "a running Wesleyan blog that is constantly update." Along these lines there were notes about Twittering, both positive and negative. One alum wrote: "Let's integrate social networking, have professors tweeting and blogging, use video is new and creative ways, network with the alumni on a regular basis, and on and on." Another wrote a similar comment, but with more refrain: "I love twitter. But don't feature twitter on the homepage. That's so beneath a university website. We have to have some boundaries even in this web 2.0 world."
Other young alumni and undergraduates fearfully wrote: ""Don't get too "new media" i.e. Twitter, You Tube, and so forth. I find this too trendy and anxious." Another wrote: "Please don't actually go too 2.0 on us. If done poorly it looks way worse than it looks good when done well. I've seen all the official twitters and blogs, and those are going okay, but just be careful."
Content
There were lots of comments about the content of the website itself. In general, participants desire the content to be "useful," "informative," "clear and pertinent," "interesting," "not much fluff," "comprehensive," "easily accessible and understandable," "easy to read," and "straightforward." There were also requests for it to be "updated more often" and simply "less text." One prospective student wrote: "If the text is witty and/or informally written (in, for example, things like the virtual tour) to give a sense of the character of the school instead of something so institutionalized and formal." Survey results indicate the homepage text should change a few times a week (according to the community) or weekly (according to alumni and prospectives).
A desire for feature stories and profiles highlighting projects and accomplishments of alumni and faculty, interesting ideas, student projects an publications, and "more student run and/or reflect the real thoughts, achievements, events, stories, etc that affect current students" were repeatedly expressed..
One alum wrote: "As an alumni, it's the people and reconnecting with them that most interests me. I think that stories and profiles of alumni, professors and current students are the most important since it's the people who made and make) Wesleyan such a great place. I would like to see more short profiles of people from different Wesleyan eras and/or longer stories. also they don't need to be a president or award winner etc. Many interesting stories can come from people in a variety of walks of life not just those who have received recognition for their accomplishments." This parallels requests for "student emphasis" "interest in what's happening on campus" "what's happening, new, different" "quotes from students"
In addition to stories, there were other specific content requests including an "interactive map of campus," "in depth schedule/calendar of events," and major links to the library and directory. Many mentioned having additional information about restaurants, businesses, and happenings in Middletown. Still others mentioned more direct access to sustainability initiatives and internationalization efforts of the campus and a link to book recommendations from the community.
Some of the prospective students who participated in the survey stressed the desire for "honest student quotes and student blogs" noting that often times comments written by the university seem "standardized" saying "it gives me, the student, absolutely no insight into life at the university." Another requested "Honest opinions of the school from students are helpful. What is very informational is a sample of a typical daily agenda for a student."
Many prospective students noted the significance of the virtual tour in
getting to know a school and another explained: "As an international
student, it's not possible for me to visit campuses in the U.S. I have to
base my opinion of the school entirely on photographs and other information
given on the website."
Alumni, and different audiences
The strongest request among alumni is to have an easily accessible gateway to a portion of the website dedicated solely to alumni. Among other ideas, some shared about for this area to include information about campus events open to alumni, an alumni online newsletter, alumni events and resources (e.g. "search the alumni database and find out about local alum events in my city,"), class notes, etc.
Many members of the community earmarked the possibility of dividing the website into clear sections for each type of audience (e.g. prospective students, undergrads, grads, alums, faculty, staff, other, etc). The idea of an active portal that would be accessible to each group seemed desirable from many comments received. There was also a request to make the site available in languages besides English to help increase accessibility and visibility.
Critique of the current site
In addition to giving opinions about how to make our new Wesleyan website the very best it can be, many participants gave their own critiques (both good and bad) of the current site. The loudest message had to do with the color with proclamations that the black is "too dark and foreboding," "too heavy," "morbid," and "not practical."
There were also comments about how it is "too busy," "too cluttered," "cramped," "and unnecessarily complicated and confusing." There were more negative comments about it being "difficult to navigate" and having a "terrible search."
Comments about the overall feel of the website came forward as well. One alum wrote: "For a University with the creative energy that Wesleyan possesses the current website is disappointing." Other participants said the current site: "looks pretty standard," "too boring," "too official," "does not represent Wesleyan's character."
However, in addition to these criticisms an unexpected flood of positive responses came forward as well. In true Wes-style, some of these comments were exactly contradictory to things others expressed a dislike. One undergraduate wrote: "I actually love the current design of homepage, especially cardinal color, black and red with black background! So I want the concept to be the same as current homepage, with more useful functions." An alum wrote: "I love the current amount of content on the homepage It is simple, clean, easy to navigate. Unlike the homepages of other colleges that are cluttered, overwhelming, and uninviting." Another said: "I love the current amount of content on the homepage It is simple, clean, easy to navigate. Unlike the homepages of other colleges that are cluttered, overwhelming, and uninviting." A current graduate student commented something in between: "Current site is SO clunky in parts, with dead links. It just needs to get pretty and a bit more organized! The new homepage changes in the last few years are great though. Good job!"
Again and again there was a noted desire for the reputation and message of the university to be highlighted on the website. One alum wrote: "I find the Wesleyan web presence stodgy and not in keeping with our reputation as cutting edge, daring and different. Most campus imagery resorts to stock looking photos of students laughing while playing sports. Wesleyan is an unusual place, people are drawn to it for this reason, and its website should reflect this. I think that showcasing students involved in activities such as making films, doing community service, planting a garden, would be much more effective—activities which are specific to Wesleyan. Images of people of different backgrounds playing football and soccer seem like they could have been taken at UConn, Trinity, etc."