- Take a look at St. Clair Colleges website. In relation to visuals, what would you propose to St. Clair College to improve/enhance this new website to effectively market to potential incoming local domestic students. Please provide three (3) recommendations and justify your answer with detailed reasoning. (9 Marks)
After reviewing St.Clair College’s website, I would propose a few things to help enhance their website with visuals. My three recommendations are to show visuals of real post-grad student success stories, make program-specific interactive visuals, and create a campus life visual experience.
1. Show Real Student Success Stories
Prospective students need to see success to believe it. This first idea is for St. Clair College to feature an interactive homepage section with real student success stories told through visuals. According to class, “Research shows that 65% of people are visual learners” (Briscoe, W9 – C – Importance of Visuals (W25).pdf, Slide 4), so making images and videos would be far more effective than text alone. As well, using authentic photos of graduates in their careers and students engaged in hands-on learning creates an emotional connection, helping future applicants picture themselves at St. Clair College. This makes St. Clair College feel more trustworthy and makes their homepage much more appealing and exciting to prospective students.
As discussed in class, “visuals trigger stronger, faster reactions than text, activating emotional centres in the brain that influence decision-making” (W9 – D – Enhancing Content (W25) 2.pdf, Slide 4). So by using images and videos of real students, it creates much more of an authentic feel, which increases chances of activating an emotional connection with the viewer.
This strategy could be implemented through short 30-60 second video testimonials from real students or clickable infographics and images exploring student achievements. Overall, this strategy turns abstract ideas like career readiness into a relatable and compelling visual narrative.
2. Make More Program-Specific Visuals
Program descriptions on St. Clair’s website can be quite overwhelming, filled with dense text and unfamiliar terminology for prospective students. This second idea is for St. Clair College to create a visual interface that helps students understand their program options much less overwhelmingly. According to class research, it indicates that “visuals improve learning by up to 400% compared to text alone” (Briscoe, W9 – C – Importance of Visuals (W25).pdf, Slide 11), so by describing program information through visuals, it is a much more effective way to simplify complex academic information.
Visual metaphors and graphics help students quickly grasp key details about curriculum, career pathways, and skill development. As discussed in class, “With just a glance, pictures can tell stories that thousands of words couldn’t tell as compellingly” (W9 – D – Enhancing Content (W25) 2.pdf, Slide 2). This specific idea of showing program descriptions through visuals could be implemented through program-specific images of real current students in class to show the viewer an exact representation of what class life would be like. This could be done through a visual slideshow or short video clips of current students describing exactly what they do in their program. Another important visual that could be included is career pathway infographics mapping out post-graduate opportunities. To make this experience even better Interactive elements like hover/click features would reveal more details without overwhelming users. Overall, this approach reduces text overload and ensures students can easily find the information they need to make informed decisions without feeling overwhelmed and getting a real perspective of what their program of interest would actually be like.
3. Campus Life Visual Experience
This idea is to give prospective students who can’t physically visit campus in person a way to experience St. Clair College’s environment and get a better feel of real campus life without actually having to physically get to St. Clair. This idea is for St. Clair College to create an immersive digital experience that gives students a real feel for campus life. Since “90% of the information our brains process is visual” (Briscoe, W9 – C – Importance of Visuals (W25).pdf, Slide 8), image-based campus tours are far more effective than text descriptions. Even though the St. Clair College already has some immersive videos and pictures, this idea would ensure a fully dedicated page on the St. Clair website to immersive videos and pictures of the full campus. Making a dedicated section for the downtown vs. the main campus, showing specific videos inside labs of health building rooms, lecture halls, and things like skilled trades rooms. This ensures that the viewer has a full experience of what St. Clair has to offer without even having to go in person. Seeing vibrant student spaces, well-equipped facilities, and active campus life makes a strong emotional impact, influencing decisions. As learned in class, “Posts with visuals receive significantly more engagement than text-heavy content” (W9 – D – Enhancing Content (W25) 2.pdf, Slide 7).
This strategy could be implemented through high-resolution photography showcasing classrooms and facilities, 360-degree virtual tours allowing users to “walk” through campus from anywhere, and “day in the life” video series following real students through their routines. Visual campus tours create lasting impressions that help students feel connected before they even step foot on campus. Research also shows that “people are more likely to engage with brands that use meaningful visual elements” (W9 – D – Enhancing Content (W25) 2.pdf, Slide 8), making this approach particularly effective for attracting new students to St. Clair College.
Overall, these three visual strategies—showcasing real student success stories, creating program-specific visuals, and developing an immersive campus life experience—would significantly enhance St. Clair College’s website and recruitment efforts. By leveraging the power of visual communication, St. Clair College can create more meaningful connections with prospective students and provide them with the information they need in a format that’s both engaging and easy to understand. As learned throughout this course, visuals are processed faster, remembered longer, and create stronger emotional responses than text alone. Implementing these strategies would help St. Clair’s digital presence and also help future students better visualize themselves succeeding at the college.