Web Site Redesign: Educational Endeavors Case Study

Educational Endeavors has been one of our favorite clients to work with, and we’ve been working with them for about five years. When Educational Endeavors first sought us out, they had a professionally designed logo, but their brand identity lacked anything else. With their print marketing and web site we built a complete visual position for them that allowed them to stand apart in their field.

Educational Endeavors is a tutoring and educational consulting group and they compete against many national franchises. However, their personalized approach and local service appeals to many families who choose them over the other options.

Our initial branding work entailed creating a series of flexible, printed marketing materials. The look of the bright color palette, horizontal bands and silhouetted photographs was also picked up on the web site design. Creating a branding system for them finally made them look professional and legitimate; you may wish to read our case study white paper on how creating a professional brand image improved their bottom line.

Changes require change

Just because you have a solid brand identity system, doesn’t mean you’ll never want or need to upgrade your web site. Lots has changed in both the world of web site development and also with Educational Endeavors’ organization in the past 5 years and it was time to redo their web site. We took the opportunity to make changes to both the design as well as the functionality of the site. However, we made sure we kept the same brand identity, by using consistent, but not completely repetitious design elements.

Goals of the web site redesign:

• Add a content management system. We decided to use WordPress as it’s very easy to use and the client is considering adding a blog.
• Add a slideshow on the home page to be able to showcase more programs and make the home page more engaging.
• Update and reorganize content to make it more in line with their current offerings.
• Have more information upfront, and easy-to-find, on the home page

To help maintain the branding elements:

• Keep the brightly colored, horizontal bands and color palette, but made the homepage’s top area more content-rich. We continued to use one color for each section as this matched up with their printed materials, and we kept the dominant corporate color green.
• Keep the typography, but make it web friendly. We used the new options available through web fonts to use HTML typography, rather than graphics for the top links
• Continue to use the silhouetted photographs, but redesigned how they worked within the design. We also introduced more, real candid shots on the interior pages of the site.

With the new site, Educational Endeavors has control over the updates to their content. We created a custom-designed WordPress theme for them. If you’re considering adding WordPress to your web site, you may want to read about our advice on getting a professional involved to help you get it set up.

We were especially happy to find a solution for the slideshow on the home page that uses live text. Not only is this text updateable by Educational Endeavors, it’s also SEO-friendly.

Everyone is happy with the fact that is more relevant content on the home page. The slideshow features their programs and offerings. There is more room for additional body copy below the slideshow. The navigation has stayed very clean and well-branded. There is a sign-up form right on the homepage to join the email list.