CalArts
Comprehensive website transformation to reinforce its place as a premier arts institution.
Background
The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts)
CalArts was founded in 1961 by Walt and Roy Disney, as an inclusive home for artists collaborating across disciplines. Nearly 65 years later, it is still what Calarts calls “a fiercely countercultural version of Disney’s utopian concept.” In the eyes of the world it’s a premier West Coast arts institution, offering degree programs across six disciplines of art, critical studies, dance, film/video, music and theater.
My roles
User Research
Stakeholder Research
Digital Strategy Blueprint
Wireframes
Experience Strategy
Information Architecture
Feature Design
My tools
Figma
Summary
Our discovery process revealed their challenges, goals and opportunities. The existing site was 8+ years old and didn’t meet accessibility standards. It was full of rich arts content, news and faculty profiles, but there was little definition and promotion of what makes CalArts unique from other art schools. And each school was on a separate subdomain, making universal changes difficult, and governance even harder.
Their vision was a beautiful, functional, accessible site that engaged their diverse audiences, reinforced their position as the most prestigious art school on the west coast, and was easy to manage. An essential outcome: it had to feel like Calarts.
After a series of stakeholder interviews to understand internal goals and priorities, NewCity undertook audience research for insight into the needs of two prospective student groups. We did enrollment journey mapping to help build strategies for IA, navigation structure and enrollment conversion paths. Then we outlined content strategy and messaging to capture the heart of the CalArts experience, and to support differentiated storytelling across the six schools.
NewCity has done an outstanding job of capturing all the necessary functionality for our project. This was no small task, as it involved numerous complex elements, including our integration with SplashThat, helping us create a more thoughtful site-wide wayfinding experience, and elevating the site's search capabilities. Their innovative approach to problem-solving and commitment to refining solutions has been exceptional, making a significant impact on the project’s success.
CalArts - Lead Web Designer
Now that our students and faculty have seen the site, we have people coming to us with new ideas for content, or interesting ways to share the creative work of their programs. I had hoped the new site would encourage people across our campus to partner with us once they saw how dynamically we can now showcase their content—and it’s already happening.
CalArts - Vice President for Marketing & Communications
