EDU Snippits

University of Nebraska-Lincoln - Has a page footer that allows the user to share and create a short URL with a single click.

The Michigan State University online giving email receipt includes a link at the bottom to pre-populate a repeat gift with one click.

Background: The decision to add this link was backed by research about their donors.

Vancouver Film School - Has a visually rotating centerpiece area that can be collapsed to a single line. Collapsing this area doesn’t make the promotions go away but instead just shows each promotion title as it rotates through them. Once the area is collapsed it stays collapsed throughout the entire website visit.

The New School - Uses a sticker to call a huge amount of attention to the video on their homepage. Not sure if it’s the best way to get clicks but it definitely works.

Stanford University School of Education - Doesn’t just switch out the background color on menu hover and selection but instead uses a glow effect. It isn’t overbearing and doesn’t distract from the other elements on the site. It does what it needs to do elegantly and gets out of the way.

Bay State College - Hides the student quick links in a drawer at the top of the page. Once the drawer opens though it isn’t just a boring list of links. They take care to limit the options to eight and each one has a large area and image to click. It makes “quick links” actually useful and fun to use.

Edge Hill University - Has a mega menu but uses the space to give personality to each of the major menu items. It isn’t just a huge list of links but a way for the visitor to feel emotion with each area they explore.

University of Maryland - Has a normal homepage image rotator but the image selector is integrated in to the design of the site nicely. It isn’t just a bunch of circles or squares on top of the image but looks like part of the design and is actually useful.

Rhode Island School of Design - Uses every pixel of the browser to engage the visitor with art and action items. The page is also completely resizable based on the visitors viewpoint.

Just try to resize your browser and watch the page adjust.

University of California - Uses a unique way to list their “top links”, what I am assuming are their most popular pages. It doesn’t just list them but uses a graph to show their relative popularity. 

University of Nebraska-Lincoln - Has elegantly handled a “named school” on their homepage by making the name small enough to read but elegant enough to give credit to the person. This makes the list scannable while still giving credit where credit is due, something a lot of higher ed institutions struggle with.

Cal State Monterey Bay - Uses “top links” as sub menu items from the main menu. They are above the main menu items instead of below like most websites.

Northwest Nazarene University - Uses a combination of techniques used at other institutions to create a single microsite that has user generated content, long pages with a static top menu and interesting photography.

It got me to click around and explore more than I thought I would.