The audience, structure and often the design of university websites are 90% the same (for the most part). Although your website is probably not the sole reason students enroll, it can be a detractor. The difference between a regular site and a rememberable one is the #littlebigdetails. A lot of time is spent on the “big details” of a website, like the centerpiece image, and things that everyone expects, frankly the easy decisions. The harder, but more memorable, are the little details that make a big difference in your user's experience. Learn why these details make such a large impact and how to take a step back to discover how to add a little joy to your user experience.

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#littlebigdetails
What and why they matter.

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@nickdenardis

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Associate Director of Web Communications
Wayne State University
wayne.edu
Host of EDU Checkup
educheckup.com
Curator of EDU Snippits
edusnippits.com
Nick DeNardis

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Same. Same. Same.
Higher Education Websites

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Name
Search
Girls under treesNavigation
Promotion
News Events

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Name
Search
Girls under trees
Navigation
Promotion
News Events

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Name
Search
Girls under trees
Navigation
Promotion
News Events
Impact statement

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Outliers

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nd.edu

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georgetown.edu

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drew.edu

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Programs
Admissions
Apply
Financial Aid
Class Schedule

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You are your website
Intrigue your visitors, don’t put them o.

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Source: Noel-Levitz
Impression of your website

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Customizing your site is hard
(especially in highered)

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Highered suers from
• Lack of ‘product’ champions
• Limited time/budget
• CMS’s...
• Decentralization/Centralization struggle
• RFP/Committee fatigue
• Innovation paralysis

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“Not all of us can do great
things. But we can do small
things with great love.”
~ Mother Teresa

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Everything Matters

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Details
(medium sized ones)

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Auto Correct

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Nifty interfaces
umd.edu

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Little Details

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earlham.edu

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admission.universityofcalifornia.edu

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twitter.com

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Little Big Details

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So what are they?
Not apparent
Useful to the user
Solves a problem
“Hey, did you know..”?

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Pure Utility

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basecamp.com

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siu.edu

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Justifying the time

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GA Event Tracking
_trackEvent(category, action, opt_label,
opt_value, opt_noninteraction)
_trackEvent(‘littlebigdetail’, ‘moved-
click’, ‘Future Students’)

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Added Value

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reddit.com

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oc.edu/admissions/undergraduate/

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oc.edu/admissions/undergraduate/

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vfs.com

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givingto.msu.edu

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Hidden Feature

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snhu.edu
http://j.mp/11JHfxW

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soundcloud.com

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lafayette.edu

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Creating a #littlebigdetail

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Rules
Your website must work first
No A/B test you can use
Won’t get you an award
Put a smile on someone’s face

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Step 1:
Eat your own dog food

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Step 2:
Watch users and find patterns

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Step 3:
Solve the problem, track it

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visited
connect.wayne.edu?
No
Yes
mailto:user@wayne.edu
https://connect.wayne.edu/zimbra/?
view=compose&to=user@wayne.edu

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Step 4:
Profit.

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Resources
• http://littlebigdetails.com/
• http://uxporn.uxpin.com/
• http://www.flickr.com/groups/microcopy/
• http://edusnippits.com/
• http://sixux.com/

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Thank you
speakerdeck.com/nickdenardis