A tantalizing taste of things to come… a glimpse of the old alongside the new.
Details, Details
The Footer
A version of this footer will be included with the unit templates. Included in the footer are three main sections: the development/giving bar, which can be customized per unit, a section of customizable footer links, and the identity bar.
Units will be able to customize the footer links to reflect their own site architecture(s), and can use as much or as little of the footer as fits their purposes. The minimum required footer element will be the identity bar (the bottommost portion of the footer beneath the orange line).
Detail: New campus map graphic
The Header and Navigation
Our new header meets and reflects our developing brand standards. Our navigation serves a dual role: It provides a gateway to our content and tells our story. It highlights our university’s initiatives and places focus on the messages we want to emphasize as an institution.
A version of this header will be included (and required) in the new unit templates. It’s important for unit websites within our domain to have strong and easily identifiable visual consistency. While individual units and departments should—and will—have their own identities and content, we are all a part of something much larger.
Requiring a bit of visual consistency across the family of university websites isn’t just about being “pretty.” It’s not about setting random requirements by fiat, and it’s not about top-down management. It’s part of an overall presentation strategy.
Something as mundane and simple as having a consistent header and footer across university websites can be a powerful tool. It aids in navigation and user experience. It affects our visitors’ perception by providing a sense of comfort and familiarity. It also gives units a space to tell their individual stories, without having to start from a blank canvas each time. And it collects those individual stories as part of a whole—the stories of one program within one department within one college are also the stories of the University of Tennessee.
The rich media area (the big photograph and Top 25 graphic and text) that you see in the detailed images above isn’t part of the header, but we wanted to give you a sneak peek anyway. That area will be a slider, within which we can feature videos as well as photography and text.