With T3 well underway, the communications office is in full swing. Now fully staffed—thanks to the addition of Dan Smith, our new Digital Content Producer and Social Media Manager, who joins myself and Web Manager Dean Sauls—we’ve increasingly been able to turn our attention to more of the long-term strategic communications work that I’ve been itching to dig into since my start last July. 

Hopefully, you’ve noticed some of the fruits of these labors, including revised print materials that reflect our “curious” brand; a more robust and engaged social media presence on Facebook and Instagram; a new regular “spotlight on learning” storytelling video series; and ongoing tweaks to the CA Weekly to make it as useful as possible to our community.  

In the near future, we’ll be launching a communications survey to get your feedback on these efforts. We want to hear what you think we’re doing right, where we might be missing the mark, and how else we might be able to capture and share (and hopefully improve) your CA experience. Keep an eye on your inbox in the next couple of weeks for that survey. 

But, all that good stuff aside, perhaps what has my office the most excited is the behind-the-scenes work that is currently underway: the long-awaited website redesign project (altogether now: “Hurray!”).  

Kicking off that process, at the beginning of March, I crafted and launched a request for proposals (RFP), targeting over fifty well-respected and innovative design firms all over the country.  

The RFP articulates five overarching objectives in service of a larger strategy to create a site that best supports the information needs of our community, positively differentiates us from our peer institutions, and positions us as nationwide leader of independent schools.  

Specifically, these redesign objectives include: 

  • Increased storytelling capabilities  
    • Develop a design that allows us to effectively share the stories that set CA apart through written articles and/or blogs, compelling visuals, video, and multimedia. 
    • Prominently integrate CA’s social channels into our web presence. 
  • Increased capacity for community-building 
    • Strengthen our community by presenting engaging and informative content that invites return visits, accurately and compellingly represents the CA experience, and instills pride in our institution.  
    • Create a space to highlight and promote campus events. 
  • An “outside-the-box” visual design that reflects brand values of discovery, innovation, collaboration, and excellence 
    • Bring the website’s visual identity into alignment with CA’s core mission, differentiating CA as an innovative leader in the education space through a clever, innovative, thoughtful design. 
  • Improved user experience and overall site usability with well-designed site architecture and information design  
    • Present comprehensive information and resources in user-friendly and engaging formats that leverage best practices of website design, including intuitive navigation, site hierarchy, and functional search.  
  •  Refined and new content that supports strategic objectives 
    • Develop and deliver concise and compelling messages in consistent and singular voice. 
    • Create a robust presence dedicated to the new Center for Community Engagement that allows us to highlight our equity and inclusion work, experiential learning, service learning, and social entrepreneurship initiatives as core commitments. 

I’m pleased to say that the RFP has been well received. I’ve had numerous follow-up phone calls with agencies that are planning to bid, and I anticipate over twenty proposals will cross my desk by tomorrow’s deadline.  

Over the next couple of weeks, we will review the bids, select our finalists, conduct interviews, and, finally, select a partner agency. After that, we will be solidifying a timetable for the project. We’re hoping to kick-off the official start of the project in April, with the completed site being delivered in the fall.  

As we move forward with this process, I’ll be reaching out to some of you to collaborate at various points along the way. That might include sharing your insights during an initial discovery process, providing feedback on early design options, serving as subjects for new video or photo story assets, or helping with beta testing as we approach launch.  

We’ve laid out an ambitious and exciting vision—one that is truly going to showcase the diversity of the CA experience and the special learning community that we have built. I’m excited to dig in and get this project underway and to work with the community to see it through to fruition.  

Onwards!