Assignment #4 Q3

3. Question 3

Visit the St. Clair College website. Analyze it strictly from a visual marketing strategy perspective targeting: Local domestic high school students. You are to provide three strategic visual enhancement recommendations. For each recommendation:

a) Clearly identify the issue or missed opportunity (3 x 2 = 6 Marks)

b) Propose a specific visual improvement (3 x 2 = 6 Marks)

c) Explain why it would improve recruitment effectiveness (3 x 2 = 6 Marks)

d) Connect it to student psychology and digital behaviour (3 x 2 = 6 Marks)

Do not provide vague suggestions like:

• “Add more pictures”

• “Make it more modern”

• “Use better graphics”You need to be specific based on class content only:

• What type of visuals?

• Where?

• Why?

• What behavioural outcome would it influence?

Think like a digital strategist. (24 Marks Total)

1. Strategic visual enhancement recommendation 

1. The first issue I found on the homepage main section, is that they are not mainly targeting local or domestic high school students in a visual way. There is not much that would be appealing to high school students right away from just looking at the visuals on the homepage. The main visual on the st clairs official website focuses on st clair programs like trades and what the school offers rather than how students impressions or stories or representations of St. Clair. College is. This might be an issue because first impressions, especially for people looking to enroll or current high school students, matter a lot and they can be made in less than a second. It doesn’t represent much emotionally or relatable to high school students at first glance, this can lead to them not finding a connection or an interest towards the website. 
2. A specific visual improvement that can be done and solve this problem is adding a slide show or a short video of students enrolled in St.Clair on campus, either studying, being in a class that would be intriguing to some and expressing some kind of emotions, preferably them smiling, talking to friends or collaborating with peers. This visual representation can be followed by small text like a heading and/or a call-to-action message that would tell the target audience to either find out more, or explore programs. 
3. This improves requirement effectiveness because it gives St.Clair College a fresh look, targeting high school students. It goes from information and clear statements about the college to giving it an identity, how a student would look or how they are in this environment and college. High-school students can be picky when choosing their college or future education, which is why the main homepage visual should reflect on how the outcome of being in st clair college looks rather than just what it has to offer. This reflects more on emotion and showing that this college is a great environment to be in which will catch a lot of attention.
4. This change would connect with student psychology and digital behavior because high school students are fast to make a decision when clicking or looking at a website because they have a short attention span. Visuals of the college and students that express different emotions, showing how it looks like to be a student there would be appealing to them and is a great visual strategy because it stops them from scrolling and losing interest, it makes them wonder or be attracted int becoming a student at St.Clair and it makes them act emotionally, if the people look confident and happy this will make them feel at peace and believe that this would be them if they joined St.Clair College.

2. Strategic visual enhancement recommendation 

1. When clicking on the “our programs” page, I noticed that there is barely any visual and it is focused on mostly text and a list of all the programs this college offers. This puts viewers in a spot where they have to focus on the information, without having anything visually appealing or any visuals guiding them into what programs they might be interested in. This is another issue especially that the target audience is local high-school students, because this audience is focused on learning visually, have a short attention span meaning they scan through information and do not read a lot, it can also seem overwhelming or too simple.
2. A visual improvement this section would require is instead of every program just being stated, only the names, it would be better to add a visual to each that is larger than the name, and focuses on either how the program looks like, the graduates or some activities and appealing classes that might stick out to this audience. This allows viewers to portray these programs by the visuals they see above the program titles, and make a decision either to find out more or look at others that might catch their attention. 
3. This change improves requirement effectiveness targeted to high-school students because they will look at the programs at their next steps, it will make them want to be in it or have a strong interpretation and first impression about it, not just a list of programs. Students have the opportunity to compare these programs visually not just by reading about them, and choose their top ones they found interest in, leading them to make a final decision. Visuals improve comprehension and retention, and are crucial to a website, especially if you are trying to get viewers to act on what they see, these kind of visuals will make students understand more about the offered programs, making them feel better and more confident about choosing a program and their future along with speeding up the application process because it makes them sure and assertive about the program that will shape their future. 
4. The visuals for the programs page is tied with Student Psychology & Digital Behavior because first, it motivates them to choose a program by the visuals. It is easier for them to scan and analyze the content just by looking at small text and visual images and also makes them think that this is how they could be in the future if they join this or this is the lifestyle and environment that fits perfectly with me and my lifestyle. They visualize their future selves and this is very important because picking a college is a lot of pressure and takes a lot of time, research and thinking to make a final decision. 

3.  Strategic visual enhancement recommendation 

1. Another issue I found in the St.Clair College website is that there is too much happening visually at once on most pages including the homepage. There are visuals and text and news and articles. A lot of sections trying to catch people’s attention, a lot of buttons, blocks and links and generally just content trying to overlap each other, which looks disorganized visually and there is space for improvements. Users can have a hard time knowing where to look first or what to click on first unless they have a certain reason why.  This can be overwhelming to high school students that do not have a lot of knowledge of websites with a lot of buttons and content they could find it harder to navigate.
2. A visual improvement that could solve this problem is reducing some buttons and content, making it look more organized and in place without students feeling overwhelmed or thinking that there is too much going on. I would focus on one main point per section and carefully choose visuals to match each other or that lead to one another to avoid misinterpreting. I would also leave space for background color, like white in this case and have less call to actions and headings on one page.
3. This improves requirement effectiveness because it keeps people, especially high-school students engaged with the website, avoids stacked text or overwhelming information and makes it easier to comprehend and understand the main points just by taking a glance not having to read all the content and information included. This can also improve CTR’s and the time people spend on the website mainly on a page and conversion rates as well, people applying to the college or viewing it more often or interacting more with it.  Instead of students being stuck and not knowing what to do next, the website will just lead them into wherever they want to know about St.Clair.
4. When it comes to Student Psychology and Digital Behavior, students tend to have shorter attention spans, they would rather click on a fast loading, easy to navigate and visually appealing website than one too overwhelming or not having enough images. Students might be confused, lost, lose interest or scroll/leave the website if those things are not met because these are the things they value the most in a website. Following an F-pattern, they avoid putting a lot of effort especially digitally and it takes a longer time for them to process too much or not appealing information. 

Total : 50 Marks