Work — Illinois College
Showcasing the huge value of a small school
Project Scope
Illinois College, IC, needed a partner to create the messaging strategy and a dynamic website conveying the personalized liberal arts experience found there. Developing a campus-centric CMS, isolating marketing goals, eliminating content, and moving the site from discovery to launch in six months was a win for everyone.
Through discovery workshops and surveys, respondents clued us in to the big value of the small school experience. IC was a place “where you” got a hands-on and personal education. Through usability testing, we determined best practices for specific audiences and stakeholders when it came to web design and functionality.
Illustrating IC’s unique offerings and telling the story of its students, faculty, and alumni led the messaging and content strategy. We identified five key pillars to inform messaging throughout the site. The pillars, Graduate READY, Value, International Experiences, Academic Innovation, and a Close-Knit Community grounded the content strategy and created a platform for a site where visitors are compelled to schedule a visit, apply, and eventually deposit. Using Drupal CMS, we delivered a more refined user experience.
The creative framework was anchored with IC’s “Where you ...” campaign used throughout their 2017-2018 viewbook and served as a baseline for all written communication and created a platform to unify the website with its print collateral. Visually, we produced video and photography to help show the size and value of how a small and picturesque school feels.
