The information architecture and visual design of your website are vital to its success.
Information architecture refers to the way your site is organized and labeled. That is, where you put things and what you call them. Visual design is, of course, how your website looks.
On a large website like IUP’s, maintaining consistency in both information architecture and visual design is vital to our success. For instance, prospective students visiting your department’s website need to be able to find their way from your site to the admissions site and back. When those students visit your site, they are going to expect that it will be organized more or less like the other department sites they have visited. If it isn't, they are likely to be frustrated—and even leave.
The best practices in this section explain how to keep your site consistent with the rest of the IUP website and how to make your unique content work more effectively.