New Web user experience created for The Campaign for Syracuse University

Friday, November 2, 2007, By News Staff

New Web user experience created for The Campaign for Syracuse UniversityNovember 02, 2007Veronica Hotalingvhotalin@syr.edu

As part of the communications plan for The Campaign for Syracuse University, a new website (http://campaign.syr.edu) launched today along with a new high-level facelift to Syracuse University’s home page (http://www.syr.edu).

Designed to generate awareness of the University’s anticipated $1 billion capital campaign, the campaign.syr.edu site:

  • educates audiences on campaign objectives, progress, recent news and the different ways to give;
  • publicizes the impact of giving and enables both existing and prospective donors to see how gifts to the University can make a difference;
  • helps communicate SU’s vision of Scholarship in Action;
  • illustrates how The Campaign for Syracuse University can create new and greater opportunities for Scholarship in Action;
  • positions SU as a dynamic, vital institution with a long history of inciting change;
  • builds motivation and encourages supporters of the University to become part of The Campaign for Syracuse University; and
  • recognizes those donors who have already joined the University’s efforts and reinforces their impact.

Both campaign.syr.edu and syr.edu share continuity with the graphic identity that was created by brand-building expert and SU alumna Adrienne Weiss ’71 in order to enhance and create synergy with all the off-line communications that have been developed in support of the campaign.

Syr.edu uses all the same technology, architecture and navigation that was present prior to the high-level facelift but incorporates new photography, a new color palette (including a predominant use of orange), and the type font used in the campaign’s printed materials. The University is continuing its process of usability research and Web planning in anticipation of a more extensive redesign of syr.edu to come in the near future. A Phase 2 of the giving site is also planned.

In addition to being more engaging and better connecting to the SU brand than did the previous giving site, the new-look campaign.syr.edu site offers several new features, including:

  • use of videos and stories to highlight the many ways in which gifts to the University create an impact on faculty, students, donors, campus and programs;
  • an interactive timeline showcasing significant moments of change in SU’s history;
  • improved and more intuitive site architecture and navigation;
  • profiles of campaign volunteer leadership;
  • information on the growth of the University’s endowment;
  • complete information on campaign priorities; and
  • an ongoing display of the campaign’s progress.

The Campaign for Syracuse University, the most ambitious capital campaign in the institution’s history with an anticipated goal of $1 billion, will provide overall resources and support to advance SU’s vision of Scholarship in Action. The campaign focuses on five key target areas: Student Access and Support, Faculty Excellence, Cross-Connections, Building Futures and Annual Support.

For more information on The Campaign for Syracuse University, visit http://campaign.syr.edu.