Case 5: Penn Abroad

I am now evaluating the Penn Abroad website, which I've been using in preparation for my semester in London.  The first glaring mistake in judgment is the title, which is in Times New Roman with excessive letter spacing. The banner has a few pictures of different places around the world, and then three key sections to the site in what may or may not be the primary navigation. (see picture).

 There is also the atrociously spaced Penn side navigation, which is more detailed, which makes me think this might be the primary navigation. 

 When you first arrive on the page, it asks you if you have a Penn Key.  This is supposedly the User Identification Wizard.  Sadly, this system is anything but magical.  First of all, there is a login button on the top right (in size 10 font in the top left corner), which bypasses this login system.  The system tries to figure out who you are and basically if you DON’T have a key, it tells you how to get one.  The thing is, 99% of the people using the site have a Penn Key.  The site should just have a Penn Key logon right on the first page.  If you don’t have a Penn Key, then you can enter the system to get a logon.  

Upon signing in, I’m taking to my Applicant Home Page.  Here I can see a link to my current application my semester in London this fall.  I also see “My Messages’ which is basically all the emails I have recieved from Penn Abroad since I signed up.  There is also a spot where I can sign someone up to be CCed on all my abroad emails.  I can also edit my address on this page (I’m not sure why I can edit this aspect of my profile, but not anything else, from the home page).  

The application page is fairly clear and has a checklist of everything I need to hand in.  The navigation on the side has links to many articles about going abroad, detailing in long prose the process.  I feel like this information could be formatted into a roadmap/ flowchart type of thing to make it more digestable.  No one is going to sit through reading all of this information.  Some of the pages have links to more information, which comes up in pop-ups.  I don’t understand why they’d have tons and tons of information in the original form, and then have some of come up in pop-ups.  The pop-up seem unnecessary.   It doesn’t help that the information is presented in a very plain boring way as far as colors, typography, and style goes.  Penn Blue and Red is the only color we get.  The hierarchy of type is established with the standard Penn CSS format.  The grid is consistent, but variety may have helped make the site more interesting.  I understand that the site is trying to present a LOT of information but no one is going to absorb the information if it isn’t presented in a pleasing way.  There are no icons and no imagery other than the pictures in the abbner, which change from page to page.

There is a working search function powered by Google.  The most useful feature is the application page, especially the checklist.