The number one rule in real estate is location, location, location. When buying or selling a house, location matters — identical homes can either increase or decrease in value based on their town or neighborhood. When applied to schools, location is a component of a school's branding, and that depiction can influence engagement from prospective families.
 
Since 2009, Finalsite Creative Production Manager Kealan Duffy has worked with more than 130 schools around the world. As an experienced international school website designer, Duffy has gained insight into what makes a great school website design, like a mobile-friendly user experience, creative design elements,  as well as the driving forces behind school website design trends. 

“Our design teams take a client-centered approach when redesigning a school website and are passionate about exploring new ways to help schools achieve their goals,” Duffy said. “We keep our fingers on the pulse of emerging web trends and technologies to explore solutions that make a fresh and long-lasting impact. As more schools look to include their location and local school culture, it often provides us with additional elements on which to craft a truly unique website.”

Representing culture through a school website’s design

Discovery is the first stage of the redesign process and it's critical for creating a custom design experience that showcases a school in a purposeful and meaningful way. Finalsite designers study and synthesize:

• The school’s unique value proposition, including the school’s mission, ethos, community, culture, programs, and facilities.
• Qualities most important to the school and its community and how these might differ from other schools that prospective families are considering.

“By also exploring the school’s local culture, history, traditions, and location, we often find these qualities incredibly unique and important to the school’s identity,” Duffy said. “By blending these qualities into the website, it can be very powerful for attracting families.”

“In some cases, the importance of local culture and location has already been firmly established at the start of the project as a key differentiator or branded element that the school is excited to capture and represent as part of their new website experience. There are times these requirements emerge organically during the design process as we discuss key objectives and explore initial creative ideas to find the best way of showcasing the school.”

As schools look to further differentiate themselves and showcase life beyond just the physical campus, more schools want to showcase their locations and the impact it has on their institution and mission.

Vail Mountain School

Set within the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Vail Mountain School’s unique location enables the school to provide an education not found anywhere else in the world. Their beautiful facility is designed to support the school’s curriculum, and the mountain lifestyle is a central aspect of the school’s identity. You’ll see this represented prominently throughout the website design.

• As the visitor scrolls down the page, each panel animates into view, with two of the panels depicting scenic mountain vistas emerging from the clouds. These are given added dimension through the application of parallax effects that bring greater depth to the animation and emphasize the epic scale of the location.
• The fast facts panel depicts a scenic mountain vista with animated snowfall in the background, further capturing the school’s unique location and drawing attention to the climate that facilitates unique activities, like skiing.
• The footer depicts a stylized illustration of the buildings and architecture that make up the school’s mountain-based campus.

Saint Paul’s: Clearwater’s Independent School

Clearwater in Florida is a central aspect of Saint Paul’s, including its campus, culture, and activities. Saint Paul’s also has a very globally-minded culture and celebrates its proud global community.

• Subtle hand-drawn illustrations of palm trees, birds, clouds, maps, and the ocean are seen throughout the panel backgrounds. Vibrant shades of blue, yellow, and green, inspired by the coastal location, are used as key accent colors.
• As the visitor scrolls down the page, the title of each panel animates into view with a bobbing animation and the reveal of a wavy underline, which nods to the importance of the sea in school life.
• The “Explore Clearwater” panel celebrates key locations, transport links, and amenities within the school's location. This is brought to life through a vibrant graphical map with interactive hotspots. 
• The footer includes a scenic hand-drawn illustration of the oceanfront, with sailing boats animating back and forth on the ocean.

Walworth Barbour American International School in Israel (WBAIS)

With one campus set in the suburbs of Tel Aviv and a sister campus located in a picturesque Jerusalem neighborhood, the location of the American International School in Israel is a significant aspect of the school’s value proposition. These locations represent important differentiators for the school, including the fantastic multicultural communities they offer, access to a wide variety of activities, and great transport links for international families.

The school’s location is captured in a number of vibrant ways throughout the design.

• Custom illustrations of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on the homepage depict the school’s warm and welcoming culture in a fun and modern style. The footer includes animated elements bringing them to life, and engaging site visitors in a fun way.
• The school’s location is highlighted as a differentiator in the ‘Why Choose AIS Israel?’ panel with an expansive and eye-catching photo of Tel Aviv.
• Modern line patterns are featured in the background of panels such as “Our Mission and Vision,” inspired by topographical maps to reflect the mountainous landscapes of Israel.

Canadian Academy

Based in Kobe, Japan, the local culture is a big part of Canadian Academy's unique identity as an international school. This is represented in the design with a number of Japanese-inspired thematic elements. Large brush strokes influenced by traditional Japanese calligraphy animate in the background as visitors scroll down the homepage and help capture the dynamism and vibrancy of the school’s character.

• Sweeping brush strokes are also used to create a visual divider between each panel in place of traditional straight lines.
• The heading within each panel features one or more keywords highlighted in red. These are presented in a stylized calligraphic font, to further capture a sense of Japanese culture whilst still feeling vivid and progressive.
• The footer features a custom illustration of the City of Kobe in Japan, with mountains in the background and clouds moving through the sky.

The Little School

The beautiful natural setting of The Little School in Bellevue, Washington is a fundamental aspect of the school’s value proposition of nurturing the curiosity and potential of its students.

• To capture the school’s identity and ethos, the design makes use of illustrations throughout each panel — most prominently in the footer — to capture the campus’s forest-based location.
• Illustrations are depicted in a warm watercolor style, reminiscent of the artwork in children’s books to reinforce the young target audience and youthful culture of the school.
• The design also makes use of brush strokes and splatters of paint to frame and draw attention to headings and photography, creating a visually-engaging divider between panels.

The New School Rome

Rome is a central part of the value proposition, community, and culture at The New School Rome, which has directly inspired key aspects of the website’s vibrant new creative direction.

• While subtle, each panel on the homepage features a selection of floral and plant-based illustrations in the background — each depicted in distinctive gold line art. These are directly inspired by the school’s campus in Rome, which is surrounded by beautiful trees and plants.
• The specific use of line art in these illustrations references ancient Roman art and architecture, with the lines rendered in golden gradients to reflect the opulence and distinctiveness of this civilization. 
• Along with the pastel colors, these illustrations balance vibrant modern typography and angled content elements to capture the modernity of the school and its distinct and historic setting. 

Key takeaway

As schools look to differentiate themselves from one another, creative use of their location in their website design can elevate a prospective family's experience. For many, school life extends beyond the campus, and showing that extra element can be powerful in driving engagement and enrollment.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

As part of Finalsite's marketing team, Debbie has worked with international schools for the past 12 years while living in both Asia and Europe. She helps schools understand how they can maximize their web presence while partnering with Finalsite. As a parent of three children who graduated from IB World Schools, she has keen insights into the marketing and communication needs of international schools.