Take a look at St. Clair Colleges website. In relation to visuals, what would you propose to St. Clair College to
improve/enhance this new website to effectively market to potential incoming local domestic students.
Please provide three (3) recommendations and justify your answer with detailed reasoning. (9 Marks)
Recommendation 1
Landing page hero picture
This is the “hero” picture for St. Clair’s home page.
Before even going into the content of the image, it firstly is not a high enough quality image, appearing blurry and grainy on a desktop monitor. The hero image can be a very important aspect of your website as it’s usually the first thing a user will look at when clicking on your page; now if that picture looks low quality, it may lead the user to believe this will represent the rest of the site and content. This image also has a distinct lack of people and emotion along with bad leading lines such as the flat skyline making this image non-dynamic and boring.
To improve the hero image of this home page, I would first make sure the picture is high quality. Having a picture of the campus I do believe is a good choice, but it must be much more appealing than the current one. Using an image of the campus that features more students and faculty so that the campus looks alive, and the user can imagine themselves as one of those people. Next would be to use a more dynamic angle with more interesting leading lines as well as a lower camera angle. A lower camera angle will allow for closer images of people to see and connect with their emotions.
We want the users to emotionally connect with the picture as well as depicting how St. Clair wants their school to be viewed.
Recommendation 2
Active Images
Upon comparing St. Clair College’s website with those of nearby colleges and universities, a distinct trend became evident. Other institutions prominently feature close-up, candid images of individuals engaged in various activities. These images allow users to connect with the portrayed individuals and the depicted activities. In contrast, St. Clair’s website relies more heavily on text, with fewer images throughout. Given that visuals enhance comprehension, memory, and engagement, there is little reason not to integrate engaging visuals with content. St. Clair fails to do so on many pages.
To enhance St. Clair’s website, the foremost action would be to incorporate more engaging and relevant images that complement the content. For instance, adding images depicting the visually exciting elements of the various programs on the PROGRAMS AND COURSES page would significantly enhance user experience. Each program listed could include a small accompanying picture. As we’ve learned, these images aid in understanding the program and facilitate users’ navigation through the list, capturing their attention and guiding them to the associated text.
This strategy of supporting content with images statistically improves content comprehension and recall, as well as enhances engagement for the consumer. There is no compelling reason why St. Clair should not already be implementing this approach.
Recommendation 3
Original Visuals
During a comparison of competing school websites with St. Clair’s, one striking difference emerged: St. Clair heavily relies on stock images. Presently, users are increasingly seeking quality original content. While stock photos offer a cost-effective solution, they come with significant drawbacks. One such drawback is that stock images lack brand representation. Cohesive visuals that represent the brand are crucial. With original images, one can ensure that they are tailored precisely to the content and the brand’s visual style. The use of stock photos undermines this cohesion, resulting in visual content that appears generic and uninteresting, arguably one of the worst perceptions to convey.
To address this issue, I propose replacing all stock images with original images that are specific and tailored to the content. While it’s acknowledged that without more information, it’s challenging to determine definitively if the images used are stock images, they resemble generic stock images, exacerbating the problem. St. Clair must distance itself from being perceived as bland and generic, and replacing stock images is a critical first step.
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