About this website.
MESH interactive was engaged to design and develop an entirely new website for Cornell University’s online arm, eCornell. Established in 2000 to craft effective learning experiences that facilitate the global application and accessibility of content and knowledge from Cornell University, eCornell’s primary products are web-delivered professional development programs. All content is authored by faculty from Cornell—delivery powered by eCornell. Their vision is to be the best provider of online learning experiences that empower individuals to innovate in their career, company, or community.
A brand with no standards.
The client had recently rebranded with a new logo, but had no brand standards at the time of the development of new website. The eCornell team looked to MESH to help them develop new branding guidelines via the website, that could then be repurposed across all media. The main goal? To increase individual user enrollment, corporate enrollment, and involvement with the global university community.
Challenges overcome.
There were a number of challenges when developing the solution for eCornell. First, the course management software was a proprietary system developed in 2000 based on Java technology, making it a difficult with today’s open-source CMS. Second, they had not determined what CMS they would proceed with, and needed a robust research and analysis phase to help determine the best solution to meet their very strict requirements. Third, the eCornell team was comprised of over 10 individual stakeholders, representing seven core audiences, all demanding share of the website.
MESH was hired, CMS unseen to help research, design and develop the new site. The project ran about 6 months, and MESH’s solution included:
Research and analysis of different CMSs, ultimately recommending Silverstripe, which eCornell accepted
Organization of information into discreet areas for seven different users / audience types
A completely custom solution to interface with 10 year old technology (extremely out of date) to display and purchase coursework
Home page animation
Jquery-based dynamic course navigation (cutting edge web technology meets last decade’s)
Integrate live chat feature
Ability for site admins to create new pages
Standardized quick links and enrollment opportunities on every page
Site-wide search
Dynamic calendar of events