College of Fine and Applied Arts Website

The College of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Illinois is one of the best in the country. They approached us to redesign their website to better support student recruitment and fundraising efforts, as well as strengthen the college’s reputation by positioning it favorably as a vibrant and visionary leader in higher education.

The site needed to provide general information about the college as a whole and quickly introduce visitors to the seven academic units, the college’s facilities, programs, and their ongoing initiatives. It also needed to be easy to update and edit by contributors with widely varying web experience.

Our solution centered around the creativity of the students and faculty. Using the website menus, we’re literally framing the student/faculty work. With CSS3 Transition Menus and dynamic content presentation with J Query, we created a smooth and engaging user experience that lets the messaging and the work stand out.

The HTML5 animated introduction was created in Adobe Edge Animate, and loads with minimal lag. The animated intro is available in all brand colors, allowing any contributor to select a animated intro that compliments the featured image whey are adding.

UPDATE: We’ve been informed that the College of Fine and Applied Arts Website has been honored with a Gold Award at the 45th Annual UCDA Design Competition. Of the 1,091 entries received, only 7 Gold Awards were given. The award means a lot coming from an organization who understands the importance and value of visual communications. The UCDA (University and College Designers Association) was founded in 1970 as the nation’s first and only association for professionals involved in the creation of visual communications for educational institutions.

See the very complimentary judge’s comments below.