Our client for this project is Severance Hall in the Tower Complex. Recently other dorms have
started to make websites for the usage of current students and also as a tool for prospective
students to see what residential life at Wellesley College is like. Severance hall house council
has taken an interest in building a website and this project is the perfect opportunity.
Purpose and Goals
The Severance website aims to serve both current and prospective students. The site’s goals include sharing news and events with the community, sharing the history and traditions of Severance hall, as well as providing prospective students with a resource where they get to see where they’ll be living for the next year. The “sev-a-site” will provide biographies of the residential staff, a tab with pictures of room floorplans, a social media feed to keep people updated among other things that will further discussed in the content section.
Audience
The intended audience for our website is current and prospective residents of Severance Hall. This will help current students living in Severance Hall to keep up to date with events and find all information regarding specific information of the residential hall in one platform. Furthermore, any Wellesley College student or faculty will be able to find contact information as well as service information provided by the hall, such as request-space arrangements and policies, right in one place. The site is also a resource for incoming or prospective students and their families to explore the hall before arrival.
Content and Organization
“Homepage” -- House Council has requested that the homepage include a navbar that guides users to specific information, such as About, History and Traditions, Videos/Photo Gallery, Floor Plan Overview, Contact Information, Testimonials, and a section dedicated to the Severance pet, Ginger. The Homepage will also include an icon of the chipmunk that represents Severance Hall.
“About” -- In this section, the location of the residential hall will be provided, as well as its amenities. Also, there will be a subsection within this section for the biographies of the residential staff and House Council members.
“History and Traditions” -- Severance Hall prides itself in its many traditions, such as its cheers. In this page, for example, we will provide the lyrics to these cheers, and possibly a video of the cheers being performed. We will also talk about the fun, specific traditions related to Sev Green. We plan to include a scrolling feed box in this section to post the best snaps from House Council meetings.
“Videos/Photo Gallery” -- The photo gallery will include any pictures related to Severance Hall and its events submitted by anyone in the Wellesley College community. This section will hopefully help prospective students get an idea for what residential life is like at Wellesley College.
“Floor Plan Overview” -- This section will provide a visual of the rooms and halls of Severance on each floor. This will be especially helpful for prospective students or current students who are looking for rooms for the following year to see what rooms look like.
“Contact Information” -- This section will provide the names and contact information of the house president, RD, and RAs, as well as the request-space form.
“Testimonials” -- In this section, we will gather the opinions of current residents about living in Severance Hall, highlighting their favorite parts of residential life at Wellesley.
“Severance Hall Pet, Ginger” -- The House Council has made a specific request to create a separate page of the website dedicated to the residential hall’s beloved pet, Ginger. This will include a short narrative about the Ginger’s wonderful life, how she ended up in Severance, and what she likes most about Severance. Without a doubt, we will include several pictures.
Specific Preferences
Color scheme: Severance has agreed on a maroon color.
Icon: the residential hall’s mascot, a chipmunk, will be a running theme throughout the website.
Homepage: the sev-a-nation speech will be included on the homepage.
We will be meeting with the client more than once because they are still unsure as to what specific layout designs they want to include. We have suggested a navbar to organize all the pages.
Final Location of Website
The client has stated there will be a committee within House Council to maintain the website. This committee will also be in charge of picking a server, and we are willing to help them if need be.