Create a site design you didn’t think was possible

Take a look at CP-styled versions of other popular sites

Published: Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Updated: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 17:08

Similar to your print edition, a redesign of your site piques interest from readers and gives your staff a sense of ownership and responsibility to the new site.

We're here to help you redesign and launch your revamped site with free support and design services every step of the way. In addition, you should know you have options.

Our partner publications – you! – are solely in charge of site design decisions. Our design staff will do everything in its power to create a working version of your staff's concept.

The popular trends amid the submitted mockups generally include:

  • "I want more multimedia."
  • "I want more social media."
  • "I want a cleaner, crisper design."

Here's where we want to make a big point to you. Within these mockups, we tend to see an understandable, but unnecessary amount of repetition across different publications. It doesn't have to be this way.

Before we tell you how to break the mold, it's important to shed some light on how the "mold" came to exist.

When creating mockups within their newsroom, many papers look inside the College Media Network family for inspiration. Staffs believe those design styles are the only ones possible when using College Publisher and continue to submit derivative designs.

Before we tell you how to break the mold, it's important to shed some light on how the "mold" came to exist.

When creating mockups within their newsroom, many papers look inside the College Media Network family for inspiration. Staffs believe those design styles are the only ones possible when using College Publisher and continue to submit derivative designs.

While we guide staffs during the design process, we also respect the editorial decisions of our partners.

It's your site, and you're in charge. If your staff desires a similar-looking design, we're happy to build a version for you. If you're looking to do something completely different from anything you've seen, know it's possible with College Publisher.

Just looking at the commercial newspapers and even some of the high profile college newspaper sites can show you that there are really a finite number of elements to a news site.  Unique designs break down to the decisions of content display and organization (and being disciplined to stick to that organization.)

To get the creative juices flowing we have taken some of the most touted designs outside of College Media Network to show you what these designs could look like if they were in the CP5 software (photo gallery to the right.)

When redesigning your site, we encourage you to look for inspiration beyond our network and beyond college media as a whole and look at the design treatments to various presentation styles.

Our designers are always willing to provide insight and advice. Submit multiple mockups or mix and match your favorite ideas to create the site you've always wanted. The possibilities are as endless as your imagination.

Please contact us if you paper to go through the redesign process. Please create a ticket with us at http://support.collegepublisher.com.

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