A portal to our legacy and our future
By the mid-1990’s, a few IDSA chapters started experimenting with creating their own websites (anyone remember Geocities!?), but little was known about how to leverage the nascency of ‘the world wide web’ to benefit our community at a larger scale. Back then, not many could comprehend how the internet would change nearly every aspect of our lives. Nevertheless, it was the perfect time for IDSA to enter the digital world and IDSA.org launched in 1996. The goal, as reported in the Fall 1996 issue of INNOVATION magazine, was to create “a visually interesting site that contains useful information for the audience with a navigational method that allows the user to have a pleasant experience on-line, the kind of experience that will invite viewers to return.” That first website established our online presence and was a major advancement in exploring how technology could connect our community.
1996-2003
2003-2010
2010-2014
2014-2023
IDSA.org has had 3 major iterations since its initial debut. With each variant and periodically throughout the years, we’ve strived to make improvements and implement the latest technologies available to the benefit of our visitors. The outgoing website (the one this replaced) was launched in 2014. It had received a few modest updates over the years but had remained largely as originally built. Recognizing the need for another major upgrade was upon us, and anticipating the community value it could provide, IDSA’s Board of Directors approved funding to begin a website redesign project in early 2022. Our design process (outlined in more detail below) for the new site included soliciting feedback from members, conducting a competitive landscape analysis of other design and membership sites, extensive wireframing and content mapping explorations, and a detailed review of usage analytics for IDSA.org.
The result is a fresh new face for IDSA.org with a substantial package of new features, security upgrades, and back-end database integrations. Additionally, we’ve improved mobile device responsiveness, created members-only content areas, and enhanced the overall layout and design. Underpinning it all is a refreshed content management strategy with a streamlined information hierarchy and new navigation system. Our mission from the start mirrored that of the original 1996 IDSA.org design team, to create a beautiful place where our community can connect and knowledge can be shared.
Today IDSA.org welcomes over 1.4 million visitors per year from all over the world. Our website is responsible for housing nearly six decades of organizational history and serves as a focal point for up-to-date news and information related to IDSA’s annual programming and community activities. All this while also serving as a repository for trustworthy institutional knowledge and reference materials related to the professional practice and academic study of industrial design. Our website is an incredibly important touchpoint for all things IDSA. It is indeed our global ‘front door’. Welcome to our new home.
New features
Home page
The new home page aims to highlight our programs, services, and membership. It also considers different user groups who visit our site, each with their own needs and intent.
On the new home page, you’ll see the familiar tile view aesthetic. The tiles are organized into sections that correspond to different motivations a visitor might have while browsing. The tiles float in white space, while slider menus (with dark backgrounds) separate tile groupings and present curated selections of links based on different IDSA programs or viewer demographics.
The overarching strategy is to present a visually compelling ‘exploded view’ of different areas of content within the site to help visitors quickly find the information they need. The home page is dynamic in that some of the tiles will change content regularly which helps keep a fresh and ‘always new’ appearance.
Navigation
Based on website visitor behavior (extracted from site analytics compiled over the last few years), we have learned that IDSA.org visitors do not generally come to our site with the intent to browse for long periods of time, rather they visit to complete a specific task or find specific information then leave. As a result, our new navigation is built with visitor intent in mind and aims to provide clear pathways to help visitors accomplish their goals while also telling the story of IDSA.
The main navigation menu is accessed via the double horizontal line icon in top right corner. When clicked, it expands to fill the full page which helps the viewer focus on finding their desired next step. Content within the menu is arranged into five top-level categories with sub-items within each. These groupings were tested early on with IDSA members who helped us refine how the content is organized.
Microsites
Many of IDSA’s annual programs require multiple pages of content that are specific to each program. Conferences, for example, need individual pages for speakers, schedule, ticket pricing, and hotel information. IDEA needs dedicated pages for detailed competition rules, jury profile walls, and our past winner gallery. We needed to create a flexible system that allowed for unique page groupings but retained a familiar and consistent navigation format.
You’ll now find ‘Microsites’ throughout IDSA.org which are intended to present program-specific content in a refreshed and easy to navigate way. Pages that use a large dark header section will often include sub-navigation links displayed in the lower area of the header. Those same links are grouped into a ‘related’ expandable menu when viewing on a mobile device.
Profiles
The individuals who participate in the IDSA community are the beating heart of all that we do. Each person who speaks at an event, is elected to a leadership position, or serves on a local chapter leadership team is instrumental to our success. We wanted to highlight these volunteer efforts and catalog them to create a visual history that celebrates the contributions made.
In addition to a biography statement and headshot, individual profiles now include an ‘Activities’ section which displays a chronological list of past involvement (activities) at IDSA conferences, working groups, or with local chapters. Your profile will grow with you over time and become a lasting record of your contributions to the Society.
Member directory
One of IDSA’s long-standing member benefits has been inclusion in, and access to, a member directory. Being included here, amongst an esteemed roster of designers from around the world, is an outward statement of one’s dedication to their career and craft. From a technical standpoint, the ability to publish a current member roster online is deceptively complex to realize. Several back-end systems need to ‘talk to one another’ in order to display information quickly and securely.
Our all-new membership directory launching with this website proudly displays all current members for anyone to view. Importantly though, members who are logged into the site can access additional layers of information which will assist with networking and career-growth potential.
Members-only content
Another major benefit of the single sign-on, back-end wizardry happening with the new website is that we can create entire pages and sections of content which can only be viewed by current IDSA members. This means that we’ll be able to provide exclusive content as a benefit that can only be accessed with your IDSA membership credentials.
designBytes, a collection of over 1750 reference articles that spans nearly 20 years, is one area of the site now blocked off as an IDSA members-only benefit. Similarly, the latest issues of INNOVATION magazine can now also be accessed digitally directly on IDSA.org simply by logging in.
Communities
IDSA’s network of Chapter and Section community groups have long had dedicated spaces within our website. Now however, new interconnections are in place that bring current IDSA news, social media feeds, and event calendars into our community group pages which help keep these spaces fresh and informative.
You’ll be able to see members of the current leadership team, access links to past event recordings, and connect with communities on social media all from one place.
Accessibility
IDSA remains deeply committed to creating inclusive and accessible experiences in everything we do. For this reason, the entire website has been upgraded to use the UserWay web accessibility tool, which can be found in the lower righthand corner of any page on our site. This new feature allows our visitors with differing visual or audio abilities to adjust settings specific to their unique needs such as text size and spacing or enabling a screen reader to provide an audio readout of the page. In addition to the UserWay tool, we’ve been mindful during the entire development process to reference current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and design our content to comply with these standards to the fullest extent possible.
Education Papers
IDSA publishes a selection of peer-reviewed academic education papers each year. The program helps provide content for the annual Education Symposium and also supports educators by giving them an industry-recognized platform to broadcast their work to a wider audience.
We have developed a completely new Education Paper archive section of IDSA.org to help improve the visibility and searchability of these important documents.
The design
We know and appreciate that our community has a heightened expectation for how IDSA is presented. This new website debuts an updated brand style that will soon be seen in other areas of our visual communications. The overall aesthetic retains many graphic elements from the outgoing website, but in a refreshed presentation with an all-new typographic treatment and a strong emphasis on imagery to bring the IDSA experience to life. The use of colorful imagery featuring our members at their best communicates the value of IDSA in a way that words sometimes cannot.
Aesthetics aside, the core architecture of the entire site (where and how content is placed) is largely influenced by insights gleaned from patterns of data we observed in how visitors were using IDSA.org over the past few years. We also receive regular feedback from our community about features and user experience recommendations that were all taken into consideration during the development phase of the project. Using data and real-world input from users to inform our decisions helped us pinpoint where we might be able to improve overall visitor experience and implement a more holistic presentation of IDSA organization.
During the year-long project, IDSA collaborated with our web development partners at New Target to develop the new site. Remote collaboration tools like Miro (pictured above) were used extensively during the early stages of the project to explore navigation map variations and early visual wireframes of key content. The project was divided into several phases:
Planning & Discovery
Assessing our needs and evaluating different website platforms
Site Map & Requirements
Exploring content structures and defining new features and core functionality essentials
Design & Visual Styling
Developing the look and creating component style guides that map to the IDSA brand
Migration & Development
Pulling content from the outgoing website, creating custom configurations, and inserting into the new site architecture
Testing & Implementation
Systematically working through each page and major section of the site to refine the content, design, and functionality
Go Live & Launch!
Turning on the new site for world-wide use and collecting initial feedback for continued refinement over time
Next steps
Work will continue in the weeks and months ahead to refine the website and collect early feedback from our visitors.