“We felt that the (old) website was becoming more of a static repository that folks almost prided themselves in finding treasures in,” says Academies Director of Strategic Communications Bill Hargraves, who spearheaded the project. “We had thousands of pages of great information, but no systematic way of finding it out.”
Add to that the inconsistency of aesthetics in the old site and its lack of incorporation of newer technology, and the decision was made to “re-boot” (to use digital parlance)
www.culver.org .
After a lengthy search, it was decided to engage SUGO agency near Silicon Valley, Calif., which boasts such clients as Google, Coca-cola, eBay, Pottery Barn, and more, to work with the Academy team in charge of the redesign.
“Our objective (with) the website is to wow the customer,” notes Hargraves. “We have a very warm, colorful front page that allows you to look onto the three big experiences we have here: CMA, CGA, and the Culver summer schools and camps. Users have the ability to immediately connect to people by way of the video content, which includes comments from students, faculty, counselors, and (head of school John Buxton. In a matter of less than two minutes, you can get a quick overview of something that might be of interest to you.”
Hargraves says the site’s various pages are organized to be intuitive and anticipate what readers might be looking for. He cites the various academic department pages, which include biographies of faculty and staff that also interlink to a given faculty member’s various other activities on-campus, such as coaching, which in turn allows readers to explore other areas of student lives.
“We find that the website’s all about storytelling,” Hargraves continues. “Most people that have come to Culver have had some sort of storytelling experience. Our objective is to successfully organize different ways to find the right kind of story for the right kind of person. We’ve done a good job of being able to think through the navigation while working with all the departments. We’re really proud of that. One of the toughest jobs was facilitating all the departments to understand that we have an objective, which is to connect people who don’t know about Culver.”
Behind the scenes, he says, the site enables any department to “take ownership of their story” or department pages, which they can edit themselves in a manner that will maintain the site’s design and keep information both fresh and appealing.
Besides video based “storytelling,” other features of the site include: “virtual” campus tours; webcams displaying live feeds of various points on the campus; on online version of the school’s bookstore – selling Culver products and gift items -- with a user-friendly ordering cart; links to area businesses and accommodations; an interactive, flexible news calendar. And there’s more on the way. The school’s recent football season opening game was broadcast live online for a small fee all across the world. On the way, too, are “international” versions of the site in various languages, reflective of the global community Hargraves says the school prides itself in.
There’s a parents’ portal that encourages parents to engage actively in their children’s academic and nonacademic life on-campus, including a massive collection of constantly-updated photos from events, activities, and around campus, available for ordering in a variety of formats. Down the road, Hargraves says, there are plans to create a student portal to allow more inner-campus connecting.
All of this, he says, “makes things very exciting and keeps people at a ‘wow’ level.”
Head of Schools Buxton agrees, noting the new site “will allow Culver to present, engage, and respond to a world that has become not only familiar, but dependent on digital media.”
“John Buxton, in his leadership, has given us the leveraging power to do this (website),” Hargraves adds. “When we took a look at the website and said, ‘We’re shooting for excellence,’ we were given the means and the access to do it; we had his backing.”
“If anybody should be applauded,” concludes Hargraves, “it would be the entire community of people working together to make this a better place: faculty, staff, people in the community. We’re all tied together and integrated, and this website shows that we’re just really excited being where we’re at with this.”
