DigitalUX DesignWebsite DesignWebsite Development
IndustryEducation
DesignWCAG 2.1 Accessibility compliant
DevelopmentWordPress
User experienceEasy Content Admin
Project teamSkadi GidionsenUX & Digital DirectorEmily KnappArt DirectorAndrew MelnychukFull-stack Developer1Mission to Mars launched during this projectThe special research programs needed a special website
The Haystack Observatory conducts scientific research in the areas of Astronomy, Geodesy, Geospace and Space Technology. With very detailed science information, we needed to create a website that is appealing for non-science users, and researchers and scientists alike. At the same time, the website needed to be easy to administer and have information show in many places, as much of the science and researchers work in overlapping areas.
Accessible content that cuts across all areas
This site was architected and built with easy maintenance for websites. Entering content once and having it displayed in many areas lessen site maintenance time. In particular, this is true for information about the many projects that are in the works at any point in time (and ever changing), as well as the researchers themselves and the science behind it all.
For Publications, we also created a custom integration with the Orcid publications tool to the specifics of the information we wanted to display, and how we wanted to display it. Here too easy maintenance for websites was an important goal.
Custom iconography to visualize information
In order to make the scientific content easier to scan and more user friendly (and fun), we created a custom icon set for each research area. These pull through researchers, scientific projects, and science information across the site. They also give the Haystack team an opportunity to broaden the branding into print and other digital materials.
Custom publications integration
This was a real collaborative effort. The client team and Opus worked together on identifying the best tool for all the researcher publications, and created a custom feed that shows all the relevant publication information on the website. Most importantly, it is filterable by researcher/scientist as well as research area, and can get pulled into a variety of relevant content pages across the site. Once set up, no need to manually make any changes. Any new publication will automatically show in the correct research area or with the correct researcher.
