Patrick Kenney
Editor-In-Chief
@PRyKenney
Something about this place just has a spark.
For anyone who has visited the Springfield College website in the past two weeks they have heard that line over and over again. But it’s not just there to create headaches or ingrain spirit, mind and body into the brains of everyone who watches it.
It has a purpose.
“There was definitely a thoughtful strategy behind [the video],” said Brian Page, Springfield College’s web designer. “When we put it up it was February vacation for undergraduate students in hopes they would click on it and eventually make a deposit.”
The video is just a small sample size of the overhaul the Springfield College website is going through. Yes the video will eventually be taken down (Page says it will come down soon) but it only represents a fraction of the changes and innovations to come.
“The main idea behind the [website] redesign is to make it the marketing tool it should be,” continued Page. “It’s been a while since we have done a complete 100 percent reboot of the whole thing.”
With the help of NewCity, a web design and marketing company, the staff at the Office of Communications have been studying the data..
“[NewCity] has surveyed prospective students, parents, alumni and current students as well,” said Cait Penndorf, the web communications editor on campus. “They have done interviews and the intercept survey (on the website) which polled the quality of the website.”
“They have taken all of our past analytics to see if they back up what was received from the surveys,” said Page.
The goal of all of this is pretty simple; look at the breakdowns, understand what needs to be updated or fixed and make the website a tool that every person (student, prospective student, parents, faculty, etc.) can use with ease.
“At the end of the day [all] the feedback we get really does matter and we hope the website will represent everyone in their own way,” said Penndorf.
So the next step? More research, tests and assembling the new design and content for the website starting with the back end.
“You wouldn’t design the cover unless you have written the book,” said Penndorf. “It’s a process that needs to start from the back end.”
As for now, the video remains. But who knows what tomorrow has in store?