Dance at Illinois Website
Elevating the web presence of a standout program.
ROLE
discovery research, content strategy, information architecture, creative direction, copywriting
OVERVIEW
The University of Illinois Department of Dance is one of the most progressive and vibrant in the country—but its decade-old website didn’t do it justice. I partnered with the department and a development team to showcase their unmatched energy, style, and diversity through a new website.
RESEARCH
To understand what makes the Department of Dance unique, I interviewed students, faculty, donors, and fans, and ran a messaging workshop with stakeholders. I also created a content inventory of their current site, did a competitive analysis of peer schools, and reviewed their new curriculum and marketing materials for context.
What I found was a school intent on standing out from the traditional conservatory model. As such, their goal was to recruit diverse students, not just those who had the privilege of lifelong Eurocentric ballet training. The new website needed to welcome students from all backgrounds, reflect the program’s innovative approach to an inclusive curriculum, and highlight the rigor of their research.
CONTENT STRATEGY + DESIGN
In discovery, I identified three key themes that defined the Department of Dance: the program’s extraordinary and diverse people, their palpable passion, and the possibility of a career in dance. These themes guided content and design choices throughout.
A bold homepage
The homepage is designed to appeal to students who might not think they’re a fit for a university level dance degree. I partnered with a designer to create a disruptive, non-traditional layout with animations, dynamic photos, bright colors, and bold messaging that give a clear first impression: Illinois is not like other programs.
Highlighting news and research on the homepage signal to the site visitor that dance is a scholarly field with a major social impact. Clear calls to action invite students to discover their path and join the community.
Clear navigation + content
My revamped site architecture and functional mega menus create an easy-to-navigate user experience, with quick access to program and event information.
I created a content plan to help the department’s content authors write, edit, and finalize copy for the new site. The site’s modern authoring experience, which I helped define through content modeling, allowed the department to make good use of their performance images and video, and keep content up to date.
THE RESULT
In the first recruitment season after the new site launched, the department saw a significant increase in applications compared to previous years. In the words of the the department head: “You absolutely captured our community in visuals, text, and movement.”