The Second Survey Is Complete!

423 people took survey!

Design Preferences:

• 278 preferred the red design
• 109 preferred the yellow design
• 33 liked both designs
  

Survey Demographics:

• 110 Alumni
• 67 Current Students
• 38 Faculty Members
• 10 Friends or Donors
• 119 Other
• 33 Prospective Students
• 37 Staff Members
• 3 UM System Employees

Select Comments:

• Nice top navigation…
• The design is unlike many other websites
• Love "By the Numbers" section -- assuming facts will rotate?
• The label for the red buttons aren't consistent
• Remember, you should also include an area where ALERTS will be posted to the home page
• Apply Now ribbon items are too prominent for their station; will be utilized less than other items Very top in black frame- "Apply now" ribbon, makes it too busy What's the difference between public affairs and media?
• I would create a distinction between the Upcoming Events and Recent News
• Size of links differentiates what is most important to the site; student login should be bolder on top right permanent position
• The "buttons" under the photo make the site VERY easy to navigate
• I like that the page is not cluttered with text or pictures--everything stands out, and this makes it easy to find information on the page. I don't know about your navigation structure, but i would expect it not to be too cluttered...
• The page seems designed for 1024x768 screens, but the image still has some horizontal scrolling that I hope will not be necessary on the actual site
• My monitor is set for 1024 wide and I had to scroll to see the page
• My primary concern is that there are 4 menus to consider. The site is very clean and directed to the events and main red buttons, but the other nav (2 on top one on right) are lost because we are not expecting to look for multiple navigation menus
• I noticed that it does not fit on my monitor
• The school colors are incorporated in a cool way i would spend more time at this site
• It is very eye-catching and i really feel the need to navigate that design much more
• I like the easy to find link to Shady Grove
• Concept one is simple and efficient ,representative of the nursing professional in general
• Overall, I think this design is a fresher look and more items "pop"
• Much more aesthetically pleasing, there is better contrast between the bottom "upcoming events" part and the side tabs in grey so they are more easily found, the tabs to click on are only on the right side making the website more organized and less cluttered. The red design is overall a much better choice
• Well, for prospective students, it is easy to find where to apply
• I love it! I love the upcoming event and recent view area. I love the links to the right in gray. I love the pictures leading to news events. I really like this! Much better then the current site. And I LOVE BY THE NUMBERS!!!
• This website allows students to envision themselves in a vibrant and diverse student population. These students look like up and coming young professionals
• I like the color combination, they remind me of the school colors, the singular list of links on the right keeps the look clean
• Fresh, professional, inviting
• Holds attention with colors and layout. Seems to reach out to the reader (me). Easier to move around on the page
• Upbeat
• Innovative, easy to understand, good colors, logical formatting
• Easy to see the upcoming events and recent news
• Clarity, color, and 3 d wrap
• The "information for" section in the right hand column is better than going across the top in design 2
• 3D design – it’s awesome!!
• Very clear, clean, professional, yet gives a good visual identity of the School.
• I prefer the red background; I think it is more eye-catching. I also like the illusion that banners wrap around the white foreground.
• I like the colors and crispness of the look. I like that there are tabs for everything so that you do not have to hunt for what you are looking for.
• Seeing them side-by-by side, I realize I like having items on only one side of the photo; the yellow background concept feels more cluttered because there is something around the photo on all sides that I need (or should) pay attention too and therefore I'm not sure what to focus on
• I’d like to see a merger of both – layout from 2 with colors of 1

The Winner Is!

More to come soon....

Creative Brief Complete. Survey Responses Tallied.

With the Creative Brief complete, LMD is working on site architecture revisions. Here are the findings of the survey:

TOP-LINE RESEARCH FINDINGS

Public’s Perception of UMSON
Based on the interviews conducted and responses from an online questionnaire, UMSON is perceived as a solid institution among alumni, faculty/staff, and current students. Adjectives such as prestigious, challenging, forward-thinking, and inspiring were utilized to describe the school.

Although most comments were positive, a common reference to some shortcomings came to surface, particularly from the current student group.

Survey participants were asked to verbalize what they believed to be UMSON strengths. Common comments across all groups were related to excellence in education at an affordable price as well as the prestigious faculty and leadership. Valuable research opportunities also were listed as an important characteristic of the school. The fact that UMSON is ranked among the top 10 schools in the country adds an immense level of credibility and pride to be associated with UMSON across all groups.

When participants were asked to mention unique attributes about the school in comparison to other schools of nursing, national ranking, prestigious faculty, geographical location, variety of academic programs, research opportunities, and affordability were the common themes among all participants.

Public’s Perception of Current UMSON Website
Participants were asked to rate the current UMSON website on quality and organization of the information, visual design, and overall usability on a scale of 1-3, with one being excellence and 3 being poor. The average score among ~133 participants was a 2; however, the most improvement was required on the areas of usability, content organization, and visual design. Some comments from the survey include:

• "A single calendar that let us know what is happening in the SON and around the campus."
• "There are so many items in the drop-down menus. Should be fewer."
• "Reorganize links, improve the ease of navigation."
• "Update information and check accuracy. It is hard to find needed information."
• "Separate intranet and logins for student and faculty users as distinct from public."
• "Definitely highlight school ranking."
• "Add streaming videos/clips of commentaries about the strength of the programs by successful alumni in various leadership positions across the country/world in various specialties of nursing."
• "Make sure the search feature is very robust to cover all of the specialties that the school offers."

About the New Site
Survey participants visit the UMSON site an average of three to four times per week, mainly to access the Blackboard application, share drives, access the faculty and staff directory, and to keep up with relevant school news. A number of students express concern with regard to timely postings.

Participants express interest in having a highly interactive website to help improve overall communication. A few examples include adding online course listings, a centralized calendar of events, improved site search capability, links to commonly used application such as Blackboard, and SURF on the home page to facilitate access.

In addition, participants express the need for a better site architecture in order to decrease repetitiveness of information as well as facilitate site navigation. The implementation of photographs conveying the school dynamics is very important. A few examples included photos of student in clinical and academic settings, shots portraying student life on campus, and faculty student interaction. Other items such as student blogs, streaming video, and social networking were mentioned as tools that could improve communication across campus as well as connect current students and alumni with school initiatives.