Web Strategy and Development Blog

BearWear returns to homepage mid-January

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Friends pose with Boomer in front of Plaster StadiumTo celebrate the BearWear Friday tradition, the Missouri State homepage features photos of students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members in BearWear each Friday.

Due to continuing changes to the homepage with the new mobile-adaptive design, the BearWear Friday photo feature will be on hold until mid-January.

Keep sending your photos

Please continue submitting your BearWear photos for inclusion in this spirited project. We look forward to showcasing your maroon and white travel snapshots, family pictures and Instagramed selfies again soon.

You may submit BearWear Friday pictures on the Go Maroon website.

Mobile-adaptive homepage debuts

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In response to the demand for websites that can be readily consumed via smartphones and tablets, the homepage for MissouriState.edu has transitioned to a mobile-adaptive format. In addition to serving mobile consumption, the new format provides a rich, multimedia experience that includes more photo and video and heightened social media integration.

We encourage you to try out the new homepage on your desktop computer, tablet and phone to see how it adapts to different screens.

Access the homepage

Notable enhancements

  • Athletics now has a presence in the top navigation of the website.
  • The main feature area is more prominent, allowing us to spotlight very high-level content in a variety of ways – including photo and video. Color themes will coordinate with each feature’s theme, photography or selected media.
  • All feature areas can now be rotated according to a fluid timeline, one that’s responsive to important Missouri State news and events.
  • The social media activity stream continues to have prominent placement, providing users with real-time snapshots of the Missouri State community.

While the overall structure of the new homepage is established, incremental changes will continue to occur as we keep Missouri State’s Web presence in line with evolving tech trends and user expectations.

Feedback and questions

We invite your feedback. Please send us your thoughts.

Mobile homepage launches Jan. 4

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New homepageIn response to the demand for websites that can be readily consumed via smartphones and tablets, the homepage for MissouriState.edu is transitioning to a mobile-adaptive format. In addition to serving mobile consumption, the new format provides a rich, multimedia experience that includes more photo and video and heightened social media integration.

Missouri State’s mobile homepage will officially launch on Jan. 4, 2015. You have the opportunity to preview it now. Please note that the website looks different when you access it on your desktop, mobile phone and tablet.

Notable enhancements

This preview version features sample content and is an accurate representation of the new design’s tone, look and functionality.

  • Athletics now has a presence in the top navigation of the website.
  • The main feature area is more prominent, allowing us to spotlight very high-level content in a variety of ways – including photo and video.
  • All feature areas can now be rotated according to a fluid timeline, one that’s responsive to important Missouri State news and events.
  • The social media activity stream continues to have prominent placement, providing users with real-time snapshots of the Missouri State community.

While the overall structure of the new homepage is established, incremental changes will continue to occur as we keep Missouri State’s Web presence in line with evolving tech trends and user expectations.

Feedback and questions

We invite your feedback. Please send us your thoughts.

We look forward to launching on Jan. 4!

Website masthead updated to touch friendly design

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An increasing number of prospective students are accessing college websites solely through mobile devices.Consider these stats from the 2014 E-Expectations report:

  • Both students and parents overwhelmingly said they used smartphones for their mobile browsing.
  • Nine out of ten seniors and eight out of ten parents have access to a mobile device.
  • 71 percent of seniors and 45 percent of parents have looked at college websites on their mobile devices.

This means that University websites must be optimized for consumption on smartphones and tablets, and we will be transitioning the homepage to a mobile friendly design over the next several months. The new design will have specific layouts for desktops, tablets and phones.

Rather than introduce all of the changes at once as with past redesigns, we plan to slowly change major sections to match the new designs, allowing a more gradual transition where we can adapt to feedback.

Global masthead changes

Today, we updated the website global masthead to a more touch-friendly design. The new masthead is a further modification of the changes we introduced in our initial mobile templates.

Non-touch friendly masthead
OLD: Non-touch friendly masthead
Touch friendly masthead
NEW: Touch friendly masthead

This change will take some time to complete. Web Press sites will see the new masthead very quickly. Other sites will have a much more gradual rollout as we have time to change their templates.

As part of the change, the four major links the homepage has offered within the BearPass login tab will now be in a touch-friendly menu on every page throughout the site.

BearPass login tab on the homepage going away

On Sept. 22, the BearPass login tab will direct people to use the new BearPass menu in the masthead.

On Oct. 6, we plan to completely remove the BearPass login tab on the homepage. While it is the single most popular tab, the design methodology is not compatible with our mobile friendly layouts.

Feedback welcome

As always, we welcome your feedback throughout the process. Please comment on this post, or email web@missouristate.edu.

YouTube channel redesign

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Missouri State YouTube channelThe office of web and new media recently redesigned the Missouri State YouTube channel to better reflect findings from the marketing research conducted last year.

The redesign mainly consists of a reorganization of content into new playlists to better reflect findings from the marketing research as well as to highlight the tagline Follow Your Passion, Find Your Place.

Why the changes were made

Extensive marketing research recommended that the University focus on the following attributes:

  1. Quality academic programs
  2. Warm community experience
  3. Affordable education

The research also identified certain words and ideas that are closely identified with Missouri State; examples include public affairs, Bears, maroon, affordable, home, and comfortable.

When you now visit the Missouri State YouTube channel, you’ll see that the top two playlists are titled Follow Your Passion and Find Your Place, which places greater emphasis on the University’s tagline. Videos are then placed into the appropriate playlist for the best exposure.

Examples of videos that would fit into each category would be:

  • Follow Your Passion: a video highlighting a student’s academic experiences
  • Find Your Place: a video highlighting a student’s first week on campus, and how they immediately felt part of a community on campus

How do I utilize content on YouTube?

When you’re creating and distributing content, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Is there a video that can help illustrate Missouri State’s commitment to academic success?
  • Is there a video that will convey more about the environment?
  • Are there opportunities to embed videos that correlate with the University’s tagline of Follow Your Passion, Find Your Place?
  • Are there opportunities to use videos that focus on terms that performed well in the marketing research (such as Bears, maroon, affordable, home)?

All videos on the Missouri State YouTube channel are freely available to be shared with others. We highly encourage you to repurpose any relevant videos when you are creating new content.

The two playlists of Follow Your Passion and Find Your Place, or any videos included in those playlists, can be embedded on your website or blog. These videos can also be shared through your social media channels.

Additional resources

To stay up to date with the latest videos being uploaded to the Missouri State Youtube channel, please subscribe to the channel’s RSS feed.

Regular listings of the most recent videos are also shared each month on the Web and New Media Blog.