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Choosing image backgrounds for hero banners
Selection criteria for images appropriate for hero banners can be quite complicated. There are plenty of stunning photographs that would work well to welcome positive first impressions of a website, but are they fit for purpose?
11 February 2019Design
Library homepage design sprint
On Thursday 18 October 2018, we ran our first design sprint with 14 people from around the University. The interactive session ran for four hours as we all worked together on improving the library homepage experience.
14 November 2018Design
Subject and PGT course pages design sprints
The digital communications team is running two design sprints to help us redesign the University’s subject pages and taught postgraduate course pages.
9 November 2018Design
Design sprints
To help improve the development of the University website, we have begun implementing the methodologies of ‘design sprints’ into our process. Our friends over at the University of Dundee were so kind to include some members of the digital communications team in their very own design sprints. We have found them to be very beneficial…
16 July 2018Design
Colour palette of University of St Andrews
All colour is emotive, and the University of St Andrews colour palette has been designed to reflect the values, energy and vitality of our institution. Colour is a key part of our visual identity and care should be taken when choosing appropriate colours from our palette.
16 March 2018Design
Visual identity of University of St Andrews
As our communications continue to grow in both pace and complexity, we need to ensure that our corporate identity is presented in a clear, controlled and consistent manner. The University of St Andrews is a global institution and our visual identity reflects our approach to education and the international community that shapes our students and…
22 February 2018Design
360 degree photospheres
We have recently launched refreshed webpages regarding accommodation at the University. An important element we really wanted to communicate with people looking to stay in St Andrews was what the University’s accommodation actually looks like. It would have been a quick and easy solution to take some high quality photographs of the rooms and campuses…
16 January 2018Design
Is parallax scrolling bad for your website?
You may be very familiar with the term “parallax scrolling” or you might just be hearing it for the first time, regardless, if you’ve browsed the web in the past four years you’ve certainly encountered it at some point. Parallax scrolling is the effect in which the background of the website moves at a different…
10 July 2017Design
Where and when should you use a hero banner?
Hero banners are great. They are perfect for conveying the mission statement of your website through strong visuals and a large tagline. They’re almost like billboards in the digital era, but they are one step better as they also have a call-to-action button that will complete the task you are probably on the website to…
14 June 2017Design
It’s time to make your site retina ready
Some members of the digital communications team have updated their hardware. Right now, I’m rocking around the internet using a 2K “built-in retina display” monitor and the best comparison I can make to how it feels is when you put new prescription glasses on for the first time. The clarity is remarkable. However, viewing the…
16 May 2017Design