At Sanmita, we believe a good website can be made even better. That’s our mission with our partners at Cornell University’s Boyce Thompson Institute of Plant Research. We’re taking the BTI website and upgrading its look, content and web architecture. Our goal is to showcase BTI’s fine work and build on its research, education and innovation. The new website will accomplish that and more!
In just a few weeks, BTI will launch the revamped website. Behind the scenes, our team is upgrading the BTI website’s design, organization and its informational architecture. We’re thrilled to share some sneak peeks of the new design. Working in concert with the BTI team, our goal was to streamline the website’s content and navigation, and create a user-friendly site that showcases the BTI’s work. The current BTI site is full of interesting research and valuable information, but it can be challenging to navigate.
On the new BTI website, information will be organized into three key areas: Research, Education and Impact. The previous site had numerous sections, which made navigation challenging and possibly confusing for users. We worked hard with the BTI team to organize and prioritize the content and, by creating these three distinct sections, it will be easier for users to access BTI’s rich content. This also allowed us to remove any repetitive content.
The new site will feature prominent and powerful images. We’ve opted for fewer, but stronger visuals. To help promote social media, the new design relocated social media sharing buttons to the top of each page. This will encourage more interaction between users and the BTI social media accounts, namely LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. The search feature is now prominently displayed in the top right corner of each page. We’ve also created a searchable faculty browser to highlight the BTI staff, their work and contact information. In addition, to encourage giving to BTI and eliminate obstacles to donations,
We’ve also added a bright orange “Donate” button at the top of each page. To advise BTI on these changes, we relied on our experience designing websites for higher education institutions across the country. We have built many successful university and college web sites, and our expertise allows us to deliver dynamic and effective websites. In revamping the BTI site, we also consulted with their team and analyzed usage data from Google Analytics.
Our work on the website is the latest aspect of our deep partnership with BTI. The institute recently moved to Sanmita’s exclusive AcademicsWeb content management system (CMS) and we provide hosting services for the BTI website.
In addition, Sanmita founder and CEO Sanjeev Shukla serves as BTI’s director of digital communication, advising the institute on digital strategy and communications. This relationship helps both parties to better coordinate on digital projects and implement website strategy.
Check back for more news and images from the new BTI website!