Desautels has cultivated a close relationship with the WSG team, actively participating in our beta tester group, helping to define requirements for new WMS tools for the community, and taking advantage of the various WMS services offered. The efforts of the Desautels web team show in the exemplary quality of the site which is often one of the first to display new tools that have been released to the WMS community.
We interviewed Desautels' Web & Creative Administrator, Julie Lapalme, about her experiences working with the WMS.
Screenshot of Desautels Integrated Management web page
Meet Desautels' Web & Creative Administrator, Julie Lapalme
WSG: What are you most proud of on Desautels' website?
JL: I'm most proud of the new home page and the new News and Events landing pages, because my mandate is to leverage the photography from our strong print branding and use more visual elements in the design. It has been really effective. It looks great on mobile, people are happy.
WSG: Where do you get the photographs for your website?
JL: We tend to use photographers to source our images for the web. We try not to use stock photography if possible, so that we can set ourselves apart. There's a few exceptions, as we often use graphic elements like icons or infographics, but generally we try to use custom photography of students, alumni, donors, faculty and administrative staff.
WSG: It makes a big difference on your site.聽 I think graphically, it's one of the most engaging sites.
I think it is the combination of our strong print branding and photography. What I like about my role is that we're not doing print first, then the web as an afterthought - they're often happening at the same time. So we're combining our efforts in the photoshoots and I'm excited about how we are pooling our resources. I've been working in digital for a long time and often web production comes after the printed product, and it doesn't work. Both processes have to take place at the same time. So that's one success I鈥檓 proud of.
WMS highlights on Desautels website
- 聽Engaging layouts featuring the new template blocks
- Well-executed 91社区 Profiles pages
- Excellent use of filters on Profiles index page
- Content-rich faculty Profile pages include dynamically updated lists of recent media coverage and recent research articles, e.g. Patrick Augustin
- Dynamic home page content featuring
- Recent news highlighted in statement blocks
- Channels blocks
