Illinois School of Social Work Website
Showing the breadth and depth of social work.
ROLE
discovery research, content strategy, information architecture, creative direction, copywriting
OVERVIEW
The University of Illinois School of Social Work struggled with an overgrown, inflexible website that failed to reach its many audiences. I helped reimagine the site architecture and messaging to improve the user experience for prospective students, alumni, and partner agencies.
RESEARCH
To understand the Illinois School of Social Work, I interviewed students, faculty, donors, and partners, and ran a messaging workshop with stakeholders. I also created a content inventory of their current site and conducted a competitive analysis of peer schools.
The research uncovered business goals, target audiences, key differentiators, and challenges. I also heard a common misconception about social work among prospective undergrads — they tend to think the degree only leads to jobs at DCFS; that it’s not a science-based, data-driven field.
CONTENT STRATEGY + DESIGN
First and foremost, the website needed a new information architecture that could grow as the school evolved. I reorganized the site map to better serve audiences and then created wireframes to communicate structure to the team. A detailed content plan helped the staff complete content production and migration.
The homepage tells the many stories of social work, highlighting alumni in various careers and inviting prospective students to see themselves in a rigorous, evidence-based field.
Landing pages for each key section guide users to deeper levels of site content beyond the main menu. Structured content types for things like faculty profiles and the community job board allow staff to quickly and consistently update these high-trafficked pages of the site.
