STORY
The Stanford Arts website serves as a hub for Office of the Vice President for the Arts at Stanford University. The organization houses student resources such as various grants for students and faculty, reservation systems to access student maker spaces and equipment lending, and information about the various programming and public lectures sponsored by the Office of the VPA.
OBJECTIVE
The Stanford Arts website refresh was a high priority project, seeking to apply a modern skin with all the latest trends and conventions in web UI.
RESULT
Several iterations of the homepage refresh were conceived but the predominant theme and wish was to feature an impactful, large hero image at the top. This later evolved to a short repeating video. A carousel slider was explored as well. Header components were carried over from the old website. The directional notch at the bottom of the header image container serves as an indicator to lead the eye down the page, and would soon come to be a signature element of Stanford Arts branding. Leading down are the featured stories which are changed out as seen fit. These story buttons may lead to somewhere on the Stanford Arts website, or a story hosted from across the university. Stories each have an accompanying thumbnail image but sometimes a feature may not have good imagery, in which case solid blocks of color against a story title would serve as a variant button type.
An unobtrusive fixed margin nav bar was optioned, linking to various Stanford Arts social channels. Moreover, an additional fixed margin button “Donate” was suggested. As an organization, the Office of the VPA receives major donations to proceed with its mission. These elements were optioned to encourage engagement with social channels and prospective partners, respectively. Ultimately, these elements were not featured in the final design due to stakeholder preference. Following on the increased social media presence, it was decided to feature an Instagram widget at the bottom of the page to play up the visual extravagance of the arts.
