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University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

Website Design & Development (Web, Research, Logo)

About the Client

The School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at the University of Maryland offers a unique combination of world-class resources, interdisciplinary opportunities, and intimate learning environments, all within easy reach of Washington, Baltimore, and Annapolis. The school houses six programs: Architecture; Urban Studies and Planning; Historic Preservation; Real Estate Development; the PhD program in Urban and Regional Planning; and the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education.
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Challenge

LMD was tasked with the following objectives:

  • Position the School as a top-tier school among competitors in order to support recruitment efforts and attract students.
  • Communicate the scope of programs offered and the diversity of the academic environment.

Solution

  • Provided logo treatment, adhering to the University’s brand standards and logo guidelines.
  • Worked with multiple stakeholders, including students, faculty, and administrators, in order to generate consensus on design, navigation, and functionality for the new website.
  • Conducted written and oral interviews among the site’s varied constituents to solicit input for the redesign.
  • Coordinated with faculty to orchestrate a complete restructure of site content and organization, including preparing updated content for selected sections.
  • Worked closely with faculty and students to create a clean, compelling design that reflects the School’s high creative standards and showcases student work through an interactive student portfolio.
  • Developed a custom, ColdFusion-based CMS to enable the School to bring in multiple contributors to the website, helping to ensure that content is kept dynamic and current.

Technology

The site is backed by a custom-developed ColdFusion- and Oracle-based CMS. LMD created applications to manage content, menus, news, events, student/faculty work, courses, and information requests.

  • Adobe ColdFusion 8
  • Oracle 9i
  • XHTML 1.0/CSS 2.0