Background

The Johns Hopkins Summer & Intersession Program was in need of an identity, website and print collateral to support it’s developing brand. The main target audiences includes pre-college students, JHU undergraduates, visiting undergraduates and parents. Often pre-college students are interested in the opportunity to take college level courses and earn college credits to enhance their college applications. Parents of these students are also an important audience as they are a critical decision maker in the process. JHU and visiting undergraduates are interested in earning additional credits over the summer.

Challenge / Objective

The first objective to develop an identity that would be reflective of the spirit found in the Summer Programs.

The second goal was to bring a fresh and current look to reflect the Hopkins experience and improve the usability of the website. The existing site was organized in a manner that reflected the internal structural organization of the division. As a consequence, visitors would become frustrated and lost and abandon the site or pre-college students would try to register for classes only available to undergraduates.

Last but not least, supporting print collateral would be developed to complete the brand experience.

Solutions / Results

Link Studio worked with the team to take a more user-centric approach. Along with a new design to match the identity Link Studio created, the content was first reorganized, navigation and renamed. Now when visitors come to the site they clearly see two main sections. One labeled “I’m a Pre-College Student” and “I’m an Undergraduate.” The audiences are directed to their perspective sites based on who they are and no longer visit pages that are not intended for them. The content on the site was styled in a consistent manner to show a clear hierarchy of information. Students could now easily browser color coordinated course schedules, tell a friend about the site, take an online tour, view campus information, read the summer blog and apply online easily. The redesign opened up a whole new world to students who previously could not find their way around the site.

“We immediately saw an increase in applications and subsequent enrollment in our summer courses and programs.”
–J. Madrigal, Director of Summer & Intersession Programs at Johns Hopkins