Redesigned UNC.edu aims to better tell Carolina’s story

For the first time in a decade, visitors to UNC’s home page could be greeted with more than a series of bland links in Times New Roman.

“In the life of the Internet, that’s a really long time,” said Nancy Davis, associate vice chancellor for University relations.

The redesign will create a site that can better tell the story of the University, with prominent placement given to rotating news stories.

The current Web site has little to no space for news, with stories on national championships, record-breaking gifts and Nobel Prize winners reduced to a dull hyperlink on the side of the page.

The projected cost for the project is $355,050. Planning started about a year and a half ago by seeking student feedback.

“Students first wanted a site that reflected the Carolina they know,” Davis said. “The trick is to come up with a site that really combines the whole University.”

Student input has remained an important part of the process, with a blog featuring updates, potential designs and polling reactions. Blog visitors can also vote on one of two near-final designs.

One of the most evident changes in the current designs is how visual the new site is. The current plans feature large images that accompany news stories in the center of the page, which is dominated by darker colors instead of the current site’s stark white.

Scott Jared, Web content director for University relations, said he also wants the site to create a sense of place, using images of campus on the site and having a spot for a Flickr stream of user-submitted photos.

The UNC home page creates a first impression of the University’s Web presence for many groups. Obvious ones, like prospective and current students, employees and alumni are all important audiences. But the redesign team is also factoring in traffic from legislators, funding contributors and prospective employees.

The current site averaged 4.35 million unique users per month from September 2008 to May 2009.

Designers hope to maintain the current site’s functionality while improving the look and content. Usability tests took place in July, with potential users completing tasks on a mock-up of the new site.

The design team’s next step is to decide on a final design to present at the Board of Trustees meeting in late September. From there, campus ITS will take four to six months to complete the programming before the site is ready for launch.


Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.