The University of St. Thomas
Provided information architecture and subsequent content creation training for St. Thomas' seven schools and colleges
When the University of St. Thomas wanted to update the websites for seven schools and colleges, they asked Melissa to do the information architecture. By the end of the two-year project, St. Thomas had a modern suite of websites that attracts prospective students and faculty.
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Developing the information architecture
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Conducted a content audit: She began this two-year project by creating an audit system and auditing 1000s of pages of content with the help of student employees.
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Interviewing deans and faculty: Along with the marketing team, Melissa had interviews the dean and faculty of each school/college and earn about the unique benefits offered for each department.
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Site map and wireframes: Melissa created create detailed site maps and wireframes for each department.
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Facilitating content creation
Once the site maps and wireframes were complete, Melissa moved into the content creation phase. Each school or college had its own writers and many were not used to writing for the web.
To facilitate content development, Melissa created provided:
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Page tables, which are fill-in-the-blank worksheets, with instructions for every page and module on the site. Each page table provides thumbnails to show how the page will look and source materials from marketing and past websites (where appropriate).
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Spreadsheets to track the progress for each site.
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Training tips for the marketing team on how to train the school or college writers.
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