NavigationArts Wins 10 WebAwards
McLean, Virginia — September 15th, 2009
The Web Marketing Association today awarded ten 2009 WebAwards to NavigationArts, a leading user experience design consultancy, in recognition of the firm’s work for leading clients in a variety of industries. Notably, The Charlotte Observer website won the Best of Industry WebAward in the newspaper category, the highest possible honor awarded to only one site.
"I extend my congratulations to the many individuals responsible for these sites," said Leo Mullen, NavigationArts' CEO. "The recognition from the Web Marketing Association pays tribute to the hard work of the project teams who created these innovative websites."
One of the Internet’s premier honors, the WebAwards is an international competition designed to judge corporate websites against an industry standard, and against peer sites within their industry.
2009 BEST OF INDUSTRY WEBAWARD
The Charlotte Observer serves the Charlotte, North Carolina metropolitan area, one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country. NavigationArts applied best practices in information architecture and visual design to create a new website with a vastly improved user experience. The new website reflects the quality of the physical paper and provides a great news site for and about Charlotte. A significant change in the new site design is the shift in focus toward multimedia content, including videos and slideshows.
2009 OUTSTANDING WEBSITE WEBAWARD
D.C. United launched a new website to further promote the team and the sport in the region, engage their fan base, and generate more ticket sales. The visual design created by NavigationArts is immersive, replicating the exciting experience that happens when you attend a game. The background picture helps site visitors imagine they are in the stadium with all the associated energy and cheering. The design itself is sleek, removing clutter so that users quickly understand the organization of the page.
2009 STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE WEBAWARDS
The American Red Cross recognized the need to think more strategically about its use of the public website after the complex communication challenges presented by the 2005 hurricane season. To accomplish this, NavigationArts recommended the integration of localized content and information which more closely ties local chapters with the national organization. Importantly, the site is easy to configure in response to the rapidly changing needs during times of local crisis or national emergency, and the relationship between the national website and its Chapter locations is now clearly defined.
National Education Association had goals for the website that included building community among members, motivating participation, and increasing general member satisfaction. These goals could only be achieved by delivering on members’ expectations for the site: compelling content that was relevant and easy to find. Another major accomplishment in the NEA redesign was applying a professional and compelling, brand-building user interface across NEA.org and its associated sites.
M. D. Anderson Cancer Center wanted to achieve stronger alignment between organizational priorities and audience goals on the web and hired NavigationArts to do a comprehensive website redesign. The redesigned website focuses on presenting intuitive pathways to information, improving access for all audiences, and creating a more positive and contextually relevant experience. The new framework supports transactional processes that align with M. D. Anderson’s objectives such as learning about treatment options, making an appointment, or accessing myMDAnderson.
LandScope America, a collaborative project of NatureServe and the National Geographic Society, is a new online resource for the land-protection community and the public. Based on LandScope America’s goal of conveying critical conservation information in an innovative and visually compelling manner, NavigationArts recommended creating a map viewer as a central navigation device on the site. In addition to the scientific data available via the map, photos, videos, stories, and related content are geo-referenced by the content management system so they can be displayed in context by the map viewer.
Walden University is the world's leading online university. The primary purpose of the site is to introduce prospective students to Walden's programs. The website content provides context about online learning and testimonials from actual students to help overcome objections to enrolling. There are calls to action prominently displayed on the homepage that allow users to request information, apply online, or attend a Walden event. The user interface includes visual cues that drive users to those actions.
Calvert Investments, a leader in sustainable and responsible investing for more than 25 years, needed a website that would increase prospect engagement and improve customer satisfaction. NavigationArts unlocked Calvert’s content, enabling flexible presentation to Calvert’s target audiences in their preferred formats. Allowing users to access high-quality, customized content is one of the keys to optimizing the site for marketing and improving the site’s lead generation capabilities. The new visual design conveys Calvert Group’s unique brand though a contemporary, professional look and feel.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is the nation's first collection of American art and an unparalleled record of the American experience. The Smithsonian American Art museum website is designed to appeal to museum visitors and art lovers. The site offers practical information about how to arrange a visit, what exhibitions are on view, and special events in a highly useful, usable way. The site design incorporates reproductions of images from the collection, and invites users to learn more about the specific works of art and SAAM in general.
Catholic University knew their website should promote the university and persuade prospective students to enroll, but that it was not accomplishing that goal. NavigationArts developed a web strategy to help Catholic promote the University for recruiting, fundraising, and community building. In the new web strategy and site design, NavigationArts provided these prospective students what they asked for in user research: access to quick, candid facts about academic programs, tuition and financial aid, faculty credentials, and policy for admissions.
About the Web Marketing Association
The Web Marketing Association is working to create a high standard of excellence for website development and marketing on the Internet. Staffed by volunteers, it is made up of Internet marketing, advertising, PR and design professionals who share an interest in improving the quality of Web site development and marketing on the Internet. Since 1997, the Web Marketing Association’s annual WebAward Competition has been helping interactive professionals promote themselves, their companies and their best work to the outside world. Now in its 11th year, the WebAward Competition has become the premier award event for web developers and marketers worldwide.
About NavigationArts
NavigationArts is a user experience consultancy that provides Internet strategy, usability, information architecture, interface design, content management, and development services. The firm creates exceptional online user experiences that drive business value for communications and commerce.