Project Overview
We’ve digested your answers and pulled out the items we felt were important to discuss along with some questions to follow up on.
Elevator Pitch
CIA gives you the confidence you need to go all in on your passion for food – a confidence backed by CIA's credibility, history, and standing at the center of the food world. With the foundation of skills, knowledge, and professionalism you'll get here, you'll be prepared for anything you choose to do in the food and hospitality world (and beyond).
Target Audiences
Primary:
Prospective Undergraduate Students
Marginal Hesitators
1. “Marginal Hesitators” have an innate passion for food, but they (or their parents) may be hesitating to follow this passion for fear of making a mistake. They don’t want a CIA degree to limit them. Perhaps they don’t quite know where it will lead or are concerned it will lead only to the kitchen.
True Believers
2. “True Believers” are laser focused on pursuing their passion to work in food. They need no convincing. Our aim is simply to stoke the fire and reinforce CIA’s first-choice prominence while cultivating excitement for the depth, variety, and real-world relevance and ROI of a CIA education.
Parents
Those whose influence with our primary audiences is powerful.
Chef Educators
Description
Counselors
Description
Primary Actions
What are the primary actions you want a user to take when coming to your site?
- Apply to our programs
- Request Information
- Sign up for an Event
Questions
We have a few clarifying questions we need answered.
How many students are currently set to enroll this coming semester?
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What can a student expect when "Requesting Info"?
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Do you have a CRM to integrate with currently?
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What campaign messaging has been most successful in the last 18 months?
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Additional Pages to Review
Secondary URLs to Merge
Let’s explore the 3 additional subdomains that we’ll be integrating into the CIA parent site.
Competitors
What makes them competitors and what can we learn from them?
Johnson & Wales
We want to avoid use of the color blue on our site as it is the primary color of J&W.
Scott - J&W does a really good job of reinforcing their brand identity through their photography - their photos almost always include blue/yellow elements and the people are frequently wearing J&W swag.
Dan - I like that they put the US news rankings -- although bogus. We should explore if we'd want to do same
Institute of Culinary Education
Scott - Their homepage is attractive, visually appealing without being distracting. I like their "Culinary Leaders Praise ICE" section.
Drexel
Dan - I'm intrigued by the CTA being bottom right. It does feel more natural for eye path to get to CTA bottom right. But not sure about the navigation being at bottom.
Escoffier
Scott - Very plain to me.
Monroe College
Dan - For some reason I really like the name of college in the middle
PACE
Dan - Nice Energy, navigation is prioritized which is nice. I would probably put CTA on primary nav vs secondary.
Industry UX Patterns
Features and UX systems common to the online higher education industry. We pull these as a baseline for “best-in-class” features so we can make them better.
Navigation
Exploring different ways of presenting menu items through both horizontal and vertical navigation patterns.
Choate
- Clean, simple, organized links with a prominent CTA in each dropdown.
- Nice use of the utility nav.
Brown
- Similar to what CIA has now but its a bit more digestible
- Simple utility nav
Maze
Obviously not a college but an interesting way to group/categorize a lot of pages.
Segmented Audiences
Speaking directly to your users as a means of navigation. Allow them to identify themselves and craft a buyers journey for them with a conversion focused content strategy.
Semester at Sea
Something like this could be a good way to drive additional traffic to our master's site and current student portal while keeping the main site focused on prospective undergrads.
Self Qualification Widgets
Cutting right to the point, let your users jump right in and qualify themselves with these form based tools.
Program Filtering
Browsing programs can be daunting depending on the volume of options. Using clear language within intuitive filters along with an easy to read layout we can reduce friction and make browsing easy.
Program Detail Pages
As the primary conversion drivers on most higher education websites, the content and the method of storytelling on display will directly impact your conversions. We have to speak to your audience quickly, hit their empathy points, and make next steps clear.
Events
Events tools are a powerful conversion mechanism. We need to create enticing visuals that can be placed anywhere during the buyers journey to show authority and to reach prospects that might still be high up in your funnels.
Rich Media
Videos and motion draw users attention like no other. Though it should be used sparingly as to not distract from your goals, bringing life to your pages through lifestyle based video assets will elevate your brand experience.
Influential Content
Make your prospects the hero of their own story. Students see other students given an influential platform and begin to see themselves in that same position. On your campus, loving life, and proudly evangelizing for your next generation of prospective students. Student testimonials, social media shorts, and behind-the-scenes insights into your campus will draw eyes and create high quality leads.
Client Website Selects
What makes them competitors and what can we learn from them?
Standford
Initial view of homepage above the fold feels clean and impactful.
Nebraska
I like this site a lot (aside from their nav). It has visual interest, and feels distinct without being distracting and over the top. Note that I prefer the regular (non dark mode) view.
John's Hopkins University
Creative, a lot of visual interest, feels different. Maybe a little too much. Not a fan of the side nav.
Vital Selects
What makes them competitors and what can we learn from them?
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)
Large Typography Staggered Imagery Auto Slider with Media
Choate
Great use of media Simple, clean yet rich design Great site transitions Large imagery & Type Lots of statistics
Masterclass
Question prompt in hero, making it a bit more personable Dark with a lot of media Dose of inspiration section would be great for Alumni videos
Kenyon
Inspirational Imagery Related links within each section Grid/Staggered layouts Great use of white and dark sections
Southwest University
Large video with a very sleek modern interface design. Nice use of a single brand color
Thank You for spending the day with us!
We’re excited to get started on your project! Your AM will be reaching out shortly for next steps.