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Web Site
NCEE needed a new Web site that could successfully showcase four discrete brands, representing a suite of workforce development, school design and curriculum products that includes everything from textbooks to consulting services.
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User Research
We began the project by conducting on-site user research, interviewing each of NCEE's audience segments and engaging them in card-sorting exercises to learn what key information was necessary for users to be able to evaluate the Center's programs and products. Important issues were discovered, such as the fact that the shopping and purchasing process for the educational field is different than a traditional online retail experience.
Visual Design
NCEE is the parent organization to three brands offering school design, professional and workforce development services to three distinct audiences. The visual design of the Web site integrates the four discrete brands into a sophisticated presentation, creating a focal center for the organization.
The design adapts each logo to the Web, and the four brands on the home page act as a gateway to orient users and help them find the right entry point. Clear, cohesive, and visually compelling graphic and interface design make NCEE's vast array of information easy to find and use.
System Integration
Users were able to place orders on NCEE's previous Web site, however, they were not able to pay with a credit card online. The order information merely printed to a static text file, which NCEE staff then had to print and fax to their fulfillment center. Because NCEE had to manually manage operations, product delivery time could be unpredictable.
Media Farm's site redesign includes true commerce functionality, with a shopping interface that allows users to search an online catalogue and order one of the Center's products. It is designed around the unique needs of school administrators purchasing classroom products. Users can search for an item by keyword or category, or enter an ISBN to find a specific item. The commerce transaction is directly integrated with NCEE's fulfillment center, to enable real-time credit card processing and quick and accurate relaying of information on product availability.
Benefits
- Automated ordering system creates efficiency in product sales process.
- Customer purchases are maintained at one source, the order fulfillment house.
- Reduction of paperwork and management time in order fulfillment process.
- Interface design helps users find appropriate and relevant content.
- Graphic design both distinguishes and integrates four brands in one Web site.
Technology
- Java, Java Servlets, JSP, EJBs
- Apache Web Server
- Caucho Resin Application Server
- MySQL Database Server
- XHTML, JavaScript
- Mac OS X platform
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Services
To deliver this Web Site, we provided the following services:
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- User research
- Information architecture
- Content strategy
- Visual design
- Brand strategy
- System architecture and design
- System integration
- Implementation (presentation, logic and data layers)
- Quality assurance testing
- Hardware and software recommendations
- Technical research
- Project management
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More of Our Solutions
Read about Web Sites we’ve built for other clients: |
| NYU Undergraduate Admissions |
| Cityfeet |
| NYU's School of Continuing and Professional Studies |
| Rubin Museum of Art |
| Mixed Greens |
| Lenox Hill Hospital, Public Web Site |
| Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum |
| American Museum of Natural History |
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View Site
http://www.ncee.org/ |
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