A Modernized Digital Hub for University Students

Refresher course

Plank first worked with the SSMU on a redesign of their website in 2011, moving them to the WordPress platform and making the site mobile responsive. By 2016, the amount of content that had been added to the site was impacting students’ ability to find what they were looking for. Our most recent work brings a clean, modern look to the site.

Giving structure

We performed a content audit and ensured that the navigation and site structure were serving their users, as well as simplifying styles and adjusting the responsive layouts for mobile and tablet. We continue to work together to make improvements to the site on an ongoing basis.

Open design

The new design is more open and spacious with more real estate for images and media. We moved the colour scheme from a serious grey and red to a brighter blue and red. The main navigation is simplified, with sidebars in the sections that contain more options. The homepage prioritizes news and events feeds, with a hero slider to showcase priority sections like clubs, mini-courses, and SSMU governance.

Simple spaces

We completely overhauled the room booking section to showcase each room available and its associated equipment and possible layouts. Procedures for booking and equipment rental are laid out clearly.

Start your engines

We also improved the SEO of the site to help search engines return the most relevant pages to search terms. While McGill is an English-language school, 80% of the site is available in French, and we ensured that when users toggle between languages, they are delivered the equivalent page where such content exists.