>Thanks Adrian, a good point. This highlight what I believe to be the
>wooly thought regarding branding. The printed page is not the same as a
>departmental web page.
Nevertheless, people will form impressions of institutions based on the
appearance of their web sites. As has already been noted, PR departments
and the like spend lots of time and money perfecting corporate branding.
Regardless of the desirability of this, it is a reality.
While I concur that visitors to web sites will (of course) want information
that is relevant, easy to find etc., I think it is naive to suggest that
other design elements are unimportant, or that they do not have an effect
on visitors. Branding and corporate style are not (necessarily) the enemies
of organic web site growth. Clear and consistent use of logos, fonts, links
and statements of ownership can enable users to quickly assimilate site
structure and layout and thus facilitate the uptake of information.
Allowing departmental web sites to grow unchecked means that the
institution is not utilising its website strategically to reach
institutional objectives.
It is possible to have individuality from department to department AND have
standard corporate elements! This means that the institution/SMT's
objectives can be met, without stifling any extant ecology of developers
across the campus.
Regards,
Mike
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Mike McConnell
Web Team Manager
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http://www.abdn.ac.uk/web
University of Aberdeen
Directorate of Information Systems and Services
Edward Wright Building
Dunbar Street
Aberdeen
AB 24 3UF
Tel: +44 (0)1224 27 2602
Fax: +44 (0)1224 27 3372
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