Site Architecture & Website

CLIENT: University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

In anticipation of their upcoming Ford100 centennial campaign, the University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy approached our team at Hile Creative to rebuild their website from the ground up. The project began with focus groups and user research to find out how each of their designated user groups (Current students, prospective students, faculty/staff, alumni, etc) were actually using their site, and what areas needed to be improved. Based in this input, we developed personas to represent each of the groups. We also audited the current site’s page structures, presented a new sitemap, and created detailed wireframes which demonstrated the content types and functions for each page. Three unique design ideation boards were presented, representing three different aspects of the school’s brand and messaging. Once the design direction was established, it was applied to each page element, based on the wireframes. We teamed with a local Drupal development firm to build out the complex, content site.

Credits: Creative Direction: Mike Bell; Co-Project Managment and UX: Laura Abramson; Custom Drupal Development: The Linux Box; CSS/Development Support: Danny Petrilli; Production Design: Charlie Szczygiel & Lindsey Cousino.