design | .eduGuru

[Results] Are Classes in Your Toolbox?

29. January 2010

Towards the end of 2009, we started a new survey of higher ed web professionals to take a look at one potential way that you are using the resources around you. The question centered on a fairly simple, central concept: odds are that on your campus you have classes teaching the creation of different kinds [...]

Where is the fold? Google browser size vs. actual heatmap

17. December 2009

7 Comments

Where is the fold? Google browser size vs. actual heatmap

Google released a tool yesterday called Google Browser Size in effort to show how users with various screen sizes see your site. They also wrote up a blog post about it.

[Guru Survey] Are Classes In Your Toolbox?

7. December 2009

1 Comment

Good budgeting includes doing effective resource management. The web has to produce a lot of different media, and so making the most of our resources is extremely important. This is becoming increasingly important as we’re asked to do more with less. The neat thing about higher ed though is that we have access to a [...]

Save your sanity and use a grid

18. September 2009

11 Comments

University web designers have a tough enough job as it is, juggling users needs while pleasing committees and numerous other stakeholders. Doesn’t matter if your web office has complete control or just influence, using a grid can make completely unrelated sites look uniform.

Designing a Custom Flip Cam

25. August 2009

10 Comments

How is this for great – one of the first things I got to do after being officially hired by Fire Engine RED was design and buy a Flip MinoHD to use at NACAC. After conferring with Keith, a fellow new FER employee and a compatriot from an old job, I opted for one of [...]

Content is More Important than Design

27. May 2009

23 Comments

Now I know that some web designers out there can’t wait to get to the comment section to “rip me a new one,” but please humor me and read through my reasoning here. I hope you will see this is a well thought out and valid argument worth your time. Then after reading you are [...]

College Ads on the Boston Subway

11. May 2009

3 Comments

So I was riding on the subway the other day and just so happened to have my Nikon D90 with me and was noticing all the ads for colleges. For those of you that didn’t know, Boston is the quintessential college town. Everyone knows about Harvard, MIT and Boston College but their are A LOT [...]

Talkback: Successful Higher Ed Branding for the Web

7. May 2009

8 Comments

Hopefully, when I mention the words “branding” and “print” in the same sentence, every web developer out there reading this cringes. So, with that in mind, how many of you have web branding guidelines that grew from print standards? I hope the number is very few, but I suspect that there are a lot of [...]

Inspiring Design for Higher Ed

30. April 2009

1 Comment

I ran into an interesting problem the past weekend. While planning a new site, I realized that I was just totally tapped for good ideas for a new site design that would pop and be happy and dynamic. By nature, I am no designer, and I readily admit that. I am, however, good at taking [...]

Redesign once, increment forever.

8. April 2009

10 Comments

Over the past few weeks I’ve been thinking about web site redesigns and what a ridiculous process it can be in higher education. Even a simple site (40-100 pages) at my University takes anywhere from two months to a full year depending on how many people are involved.