Wireframe assignment

Here is my wireframe assignment for PWR662 - I used one of my own images from Chatham's campus in place of the larger rotating images in the current home page. I was striving to create a simple, clean design that did not overwhelm the user at first glance, yet provided enough links to any area the user might need.

Are there things Chatham has done intelligently that you didn't even notice until analyzing the structure? Things that could be improved?

I think the existing Chatham University home page is relatively well designed with clean sans serif type faces, hot buttons and drop down menus that cover almost every inquiry that type of visitor from potential and current students, parents of undergraduates and faculty and staff might need. The large rotating photos link to the university’s core initiatives of Women’s Leadership, Sustainability & the Environment, Global Understanding and Innovation & Research and when the user clicks on any of these, they lead to more extensive detailed articles. Chatham is attempting to provide a user friendly stepping off point by providing as many options as possible and still maintain an easy to view and use home page.

Regarding improvements, I have used the search function a number of times, and I believe that the results do not always provide complete information or act as intuitively as it should.

What can you imagine would be some gaps between planned wireframing and execution?

The gap between planned wireframes and execution is the lack of concrete information available with wireframes. As long as the planners are clear with their expectations for the finished site, these gaps can be minimized.

What is the interplay between content and structure?

I believe that content drives the structure, and careful consideration to the amount of content and the depth of information desired will determine the final structure. I can appreciate now how much time and effort goes into designing web pages, this took a large block of time to create, although it appears to be a rather simple design.