Visit the St. Clair College website. Analyze it strictly from a visual marketing strategy perspective targeting: Local domestic high school students.

You are to provide three strategic visual enhancement recommendations. For each recommendation:

1. Clearly identify the issue or missed opportunity (3 x 2 = 6 Marks)
2. Propose a specific visual improvement (3 x 2 = 6 Marks)
3. Explain why it would improve recruitment effectiveness (3 x 2 = 6 Marks)
4. Connect it to student psychology and digital behaviour (3 x 2 = 6 Marks)

When it comes to St.Clair’s visual marketing strategy perspective, The St.Clair College Website home page utilizes a lot of images and offers news detailed information for college students, but they lack a clear message and is overall overwhelming with the use of  drop down options, text boxes and sliders, and website transitions, making it difficult for domestic high school students to find their way around the website. For my first recommendation, a visual improvement that can be proposed is instead of having multiple images with transitions and repetitive internal links, offer a more simple layout, utilizing a more balanced layout rather than having multiple directories . A simple but strong call to action like “Book a Tour” or “Get Started”  would also be beneficial for domestic students to get to know the classes and campus. This would improve recruitment effectiveness because reducing the amount of images and visuals causes less confusion and makes it easier for students to navigate though the St.Clair Website and encourages students to explore what St.Clair has to offer. Connecting through a student’s psychology and digital behavior point of view, High school students have a lack of attention span and only spend a few minutes on a website deciding whether or not a College or University is the right fit for them. High School students want a simple and easy to understand layout when it comes to applying to college as the majority of high school students are nervous for the new transition. Therefore, by creating a more simple layout and limiting any repetitive internal links, St.Clair College would increase engagement numbers on their site and provide a more useful and less overwhelming experience to domestic students. A second recommendation I would suggest for St.Clair Website involves the program options and facilities. From the home page, students are able to explore the full time programs at St.Clair College and explore a list of programs and facilities St.Clair has to offer. When recalling my first year in College, the St.Clair website lacked emotional visuals and story telling aspects. Although there are strong informational videos, it lacks student centred visuals which  demonstrates real time events, clubs, visual  testimonials,etc. These aspects would create a strong relatable and personal feel to students building a sense of trust. By doing so, St.Clair College can improve its recruitment effectiveness, proving real time experiences becoming more appealing to first year college students. Limiting any uncertainty and concerns and encouraging students to apply to St.Clair College rather than other Universities and Colleges in Ontario. From a student’s psychology and digital behavior, emotional connection is a crucial factor. First year college students are influenced by peer experiences and are more likely to apply to a college they trust. Students value real time experiences though visuals that are direct and clear. This creates a sense of belonging and identity. Lastly, St.Clair offers important and valuable information other than programs such as financial aid, campus clubs and opportunities. However, the website does not visually display these features effectively. Similarly to recommendation one, the information is scarred across the website which is confusing and harder to navigate to. A well structured and organized layout can allow students to quickly navigate to important information, improving user experience as a whole. This can be achieved though limited text and strong short headings, icons, and visuals. Making St.Clair’s website is more visually appealing and easy to click though, encouraging  students to continue scrolling and engaging with content, improving recruitment effectiveness overall. High school students usually don’t read a website’s content fully and quickly glance through sections missing out on important and valuable information. With a strong visual hierarchy, students are able to navigate through St.Clair’s website and find important information quickly and limit any confusion and stress they might be feeling already.