Characterizing CNC Updates

Characterizing CNC Updates

• January 28, 2019

  Website

  The web team is busy with development and building the new website to prepare for launch. We have added a new member to our team, Krysia Primus, who is responsible for content migration for the website project. Krysia is a second-year student in the CNC Web & Graphic Design Program and we are thrilled to have her on board. Development work currently includes building program and course pages, finalizing content, testing, and putting the finishing touches on the new website.

  Identity

  January is a great time to go out with the old and in with the new! With great excitement and only 6 weeks to go, CNC is preparing for a switch from one brand to another.

  This switch includes everything from internal and external forms, business documents, PowerPoint templates, interior and exterior signage, clothing, giveaways and swag, the language we use, all publications, partnership agreements and instances where our partners are using our logo and items, to our much-anticipated new website—its own all-encompassing project.

  To prepare, we’ve had extensive steering committee meetings with key departments in the College regarding the replacement of branded assets, including Regional Campuses, Facilities, Bookstore, Procurement, and IT. This is in addition to our other two steering committees (brand and website) composed of service, academic and student representatives (compiling over 23 meetings).

  The brand team is also hosting ongoing training and engagement events so that the CNC community is comfortable using the new brand after it launches on March 1, 2019.

   

  Upcoming dates:

   

  • January 24, 12PM to 1PM, Room 1-306: Brand Town Hall Presentation. Topic: CNC’s New Brand & Asset Replacement (Staff & Faculty)
  • January 25 and 28: Brand Support Training (by invitation)
  • February 6 and 7: Creative User Training (by invitation)
  • February 8, 12PM to 1PM, Room 1-306: Brand Town Hall Presentation. Topic: Sneak Peek of CNC’s New Brand (Staff & Faculty)

   

• November 1, 2018

  Website

  In addition to the five website design interfaces that were presented by Res.im in early September, six further interfaces have been developed. These interfaces include exciting features that will available on the new CNC website and showcase its beautiful design. Important work has now begun to make sure that different areas of the website are easy to find, and navigation is simple and straightforward. 97 current and prospective students completed initial testing for this, and 5 students completed a second phase of testing. These 5 students were guided through the website pages and asked questions about specific elements and features and got an exclusive sneak peek at CNC's new brand and website design. A third round of this type of testing will take place in December.

  The website redesign team is currently gathering content from all program and service areas to populate the new webpages, which also includes writing stories and compiling program highlights. The team is also very busy building out the remaining webpages in preparation for the website launch event.

  Identity

  Our team is currently working with many departments within the college to identify all assets (including forms, signs, and swag) that feature the old CNC logo. In the coming months our team will begin designing and ordering assets with our beautiful new logo and colour palette. This will bring a whole new visual identity to the college, and ensure that our voice, look and feel are consistent with the new CNC brand.

  The brand guidelines document has now been finalized, and templates are currently being developed for products like posters, invitations, PowerPoint presentations, letterhead, and more! Training will take place over the next several months to show creative users how to build documents using these templates, as well as simpler tasks such as integrating the new logo with existing forms.

  As part of our new visual identity and to invest in our new visual assets, our team has brought in a professional photographer to capture what CNC is all about on film. Through an RFP process, we have hired professional photographer/videographer Marty Clemens to take on this work. We have embarked on an ambitious photography tour that will visit all campuses and program areas. Photos from this tour will be used on the new website, in ads, on print products such as rack cards, and most importantly will start building a digital asset base for everyone to access. The photography team was on site at the Quesnel and Prince George campuses in early October, and the second round of the tour will be taking place later this month.

• October 1, 2018

  Website

  In mid-September, five website design interfaces were presented by Res.im that showcased how main pages of the website will be laid out, including the home page, campus pages, program overview pages, and what information for specific programs will look like. It was amazing to see the culmination of all the research Res.im conducted on CNC user experience in the final website designs. Will, our creative agency, was involved at every stage of the process to make sure the website design was in line with our new visual identity and creative vision.

  We are currently conducting treejack survey testing, which is a way to test how easy things will be to find on the new website, and if users get lost trying to find information. At this time we are focusing mainly on the student user group to complete the survey, and we will be going into CNC classrooms and sending out survey links via email in the coming weeks. Website building and development is ongoing, and our team is excited to put together a website that is fresh, engaging, and easy to use!

  Identity

  Our team has approved the new brand architecture, which includes all the different versions of the logo like primary and secondary logos, different layouts (horizontal vs. stacked) and varying colour combinations. The brand architecture also includes logos for all the different campuses, departments, service areas, and schools of study.

  Together with Will, our creative agency, we are finalizing our brand guidelines document. These guidelines will be available to everyone who wants to learn more about our new visual identity and how to use it. Our team is identifying brand ambassadors from each department and campus within our CNC community who will receive extra training on how to use our new creative assets and templates for end products like posters and PowerPoint presentations. The creative and campaign phases of the identity project are well underway, and our new brand is truly coming to life. 

• September 1, 2018

  Website

  We are in development! With the official approval of the Visual Language in place, Res.im has now moved onto the development and design stage of the website restructure. The project team is looking forward to seeing all the research and structural pieces come together in September for review and testing.

  The content-writing phase will continue throughout the month of September, including the continued engagement of content owners for their feedback and approval.

  Looking to be involved in creating content for the new website? The project team is currently seeking stories on alumni, donors and students. Please contact Dustin Ruth at ruthd1@cnc.bc.ca for more details.

  Identity

  It’s official! We have an approved logo and colour palette. The Characterizing CNC project has completed the most challenging and exciting phase of the project - the Visual Language. On August 16th the Will creative team visited the Prince George campus to present the new logo and colour palette to key stakeholders. The presentation was received with overwhelming support and excitement on how the brand strategy was translated into a visual language that will be sure to resonate with all audiences.

  Although there is now an approved visual language in place, the project still has a number of stages to complete before the grand reveal scheduled for early 2019. The next stages include the development of brand guidelines, a brand launch campaign and the creative pieces.

  Stay tuned as the project team continues to move the project forward.

• August 1, 2018

  Website

  The month of July was focused on content development and consultation. In the spirit of collaboration the communication team hit the road to visit the regional community campuses for consultation of website structure, student services and review of the website wireframes.

  The content gathering phase has completed and moved into the writing phase. The project team is working closely with the content owners for their input, feedback and approval.

  Looking to be involved in creating content for the new website? The project team is currently seeking stories on Alumni, Donors and Students. Please contact Dustin Ruth at ruthd1@cnc.bc.ca for more details.

  The project team is pleased to announce that the website build stage of the project will be getting additional expertise assistance and support from Graphically Speaking.

  Graphically Speaking is an experienced team of web specialists with a proven track record in providing comprehensive web development services for more than 3000 clients.

  Identity

  After receiving the initial moodboard and logo direction in June the month of July has been focused on stakeholder engagement and consultation to ensure the new CNC brand look and feel was something that would resonate with all audiences.

  With an approved logo and font style in place Will can now move onto the development of the visual language. Key stakeholders will be invited to review the visual language including logo concept, colour, fonts, tone of voice, key messaging and notational applications mid August.

  In preparation for creative development a Request For Proposal has been initiated to secure a photographer. Building digital assets to support the brand is essential to sharing the brand story visually.

  The next stages of the project will include the development brand guidelines, brand launch campaign and the development of creative elements.

• June 28, 2018

  Website

  After the informative and interactive visit to Prince George in April to present research findings and conduct a sketching session, Res.im has been hard at work. A detailed content audit of the entire website has been completed and the project team has reviewed each page recommendation and is currently contacting page owners to be part of the content gathering process. The content gathering process includes reviewing and crafting the written content for all College departments, areas of study and amenities for the final revised website. High quality and accurate written content is crucial to the success of CNC’s website in order to attract prospective students and engage current students and employees.
   
  In addition to the content audit, Res.im has been focused on creating wireframes for approval. Wireframes for a website are a page schematic or screen blueprint providing a visual guide that represents the skeletal framework of the site. The purpose is to depict the page layout or arrangement of the website.
   
  With the website wireframes solidified, the next stage of the project will see the creative pieces of the brand incorporated into the website interface design of webpages.  The interface designs will allow the project team to see a visual representation of web pages inline with the visual language of the brand. The wireframes and interface designs become the building blocks of the refreshed new website allowing the project team to move onto the technical building stage of the project.

  Identity

  After an extensive discovery phase including numerous phone interviews, presentations, travel to most campuses and in person focus group sessions the Characterizing CNC Project team is excited to announce the Brand Strategy has been approved! 

  The Brand Strategy is an internal document that becomes the foundation for creative development. It will provide an important compass for decisions to come - marketing and beyond. Our goal is to work with Will to build a brand that feels relevant, inclusive, and reflective of the myriad of audiences within our community.
   
  With the brand strategy in place, Will has now moved onto the next stage of the project and has delivered the moodboard, logo direction, and initial brand architecture currently in the last stages of approval.

  A moodboard is a single slide that will bring together a collection of visual references that will embody and inspire the direction of the brand look and feel. 
   
  The next step is to move forward with developing the visual language of the brand. This phase of the project will see the development of a creative platform including: logo concept, colour, fonts, tone of voice, key messaging and notational applications. The visual language will be presented to key stakeholders providing an opportunity for feedback and comments in July.

• May 1, 2018

  After an engaging northern road trip in March Will has been hard at work developing the CNC Brand Strategy. On April 11th, Will was onsite at the Prince George campus to present the draft strategy to more than 25 key stakeholders representing various faculties, campuses and board members. The presentation prompted great discussion and feedback for the agency to take away. After taking all comments and suggestions under advisement the Brand Strategy was revised and has been finalized. Will has now moved onto developing the most exiting piece of the project; the creative.

  The creative pieces will include the logo, colour palette, templates and key messages to name a few. A focus group with key stakeholders will be held in June to ensure feedback and input from all audiences is considered. The next stages of the project include campaign concept and development in preparation of rolling out the brand.

  After their snowy visit in February, Res.im made the trip back to the Prince George campus on April 4th to present the findings discovered during the research phase of the project that included interviews and online user observation. The findings presentation was followed by an afternoon Sketching Session that required participants to create their ideal website page(s) in 5 minutes. This approach produces a shared understanding of the structure of key pages by putting all ideas and preconceptions on the table (literally), and looking at things through the lenses of multiple audiences.

  With the research phase and sketching session complete Res.im has now moved onto the next phase of the project focused on completing the content audit and sitemap. 

• March 15, 2018

  Will, the creative agency completed the discovery phase of the project with a Northern BC tour of multiple campuses including Vanderhoof, Ft. St. James, Burns Lake and Prince George.

  The Vanderhoof and Burns Lake onsite teams had the opportunity to participate in a 1.5 hour Brand Definition Session to discuss the purpose and promise of the CNC brand as well as the future vision of the college.

  A visit to the Ft. St. James campus allowed the Will team to sit in on a live DDI session demonstrating the commitment CNC has to accommodating and supporting the success of the diverse student body.

  The road trip wrapped up with a full day Brand Definition Session in Prince George. With the attendance of approximately 16 CNC employees, students, alumni and partners, the focus of the workshop was to collectively define the CNC Brand Strategy and explore our Brand Architecture such as the relationship between sub-brands and the parent College brand. The interactive session will lead the Will team not only to a new visual style, but to a cohesive brand strategy for the college.

  In addition to the Brand Definition Sessions Will has completed numerous phone interviews and collected surveys to ensure adequate representation across campuses and user groups, providing a deep understanding of the CNC history, vision for the future and overall what the CNC brand stands for.

  The trip allowed Will to gather insights and experience firsthand the commitment CNC has to the support and growth of not only the students but to the communities we serve. They can now move onto developing the Brand Strategy for CNC with continued engagement of key stakeholders. 

• February 28, 2018

  During the massive snowfall on February 6th, our consultants from Res.im braved the storm to host a kickoff workshop for the new CNC website. Representatives of major student groups came together to talk about the student experience online. The purpose of the workshop was to generate user goals, tasks, feelings, influences and pain points to highlight key opportunities to improve the website. The finding will then be tested in the next stage through interviewing and observing users themselves. Res.im will be back on campus at the end of March to present their findings and conduct a collaborative sketching session.

  Will, the creative agency are well into the discovery phase of the project conducting phone interviews with senior leadership and will be hitting the road to visit multiple campuses March 7th thru 8th to conduct discussion group session. Ending the week with a full day Brand Strategy Session on March 9th. This 3 stage process ensures there is adequate representation across campuses and user groups, providing Will with a deep understanding of the CNC history, vision for the future and overall what the CNC brand stands for. 

• February 7, 2018

  CNC has chosen the agency that will be working with us on our new website. The successful candidate is......

  Resolution Interactive Media (Res.im)

  Res is a brilliant agency out of London, Ontario with an absolute ton of post-secondary online experience. Their portfolio includes:

  • Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
  • University of Waterloo
  • Fanshawe College
  • Loyalist College
  • Redmeer University College

  We are thrilled to get started, and so is the Res.im team. They will be at the Prince George campus on Thursday, February 8th to kick off the project and get a feel for CNC's website needs.
  

• February 6, 2018

  CNC has chosen the agency that will be working with us on the new identity. The successful candidate is......

  will

  Will is an agency of highly experienced designers out of Vancouver. Their work is youthful, exciting, and engaging. Recent projects of theirs include the redesign of Royal Roads University identity, the creation of the Wilson School of Design identity, and all branding and materials for the Squamish Music Festival.

  We're thrilled to begin working with them and to see the identity they help CNC discover.