New Web user experience created for The Campaign for Syracuse University

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.