Saint Mary’s University is proud to launch a new website for the Sexual Violence Support Centre under Student Affairs and Services (SAAS).
The Sexual Violence Advisor, in conjunction with members of SAAS and the Saint Mary’s web team, have been working over the past year to develop a new website that enhances the user experience, aligns with more intuitive web navigation and better showcases the supports, education and initiatives within the centre.
“With the full overhaul of the SVSC website, the content structure is more intuitive making it easy to quickly navigate to supports or resources,” says Dee Dooley, Sexual Violence Advisor. “This helps ensure the SMU community has access to comprehensive, accessible and survivor-centric information and supports.”
The refreshed website derived from a need to present written and visual content that was trauma-informed and survivor-centric. Vector graphics replaced stock photography to reduce potential visual triggers for survivors, content was modernized to reflect evolved understandings of sexual and gender-based violence and harassment, and pages were audited to ensure accessibility and ease of use.
“This renewed website is a tremendous upgrade to the experience of people using the site,” says Tom Brophy, Associate Vice-President, SAAS. “We want survivors to know that we are here for them, and we want to make it as easy as possible for them to access supports. The refreshed content also makes it easier for members of the SMU community to get informed, educated and involved in initiatives.”
The new website comes on the heels of the revised Sexual Violence and Harassment policy that was announced at the end of January. “Our understanding of sexual and gender-based violence have evolved significantly over the past several years,” says Mark Moffett, Associate Vice-President, People and Culture. “It is important that we continue to adapt our efforts to reflect this new insight in order to better respond to the needs of our Saint Mary’s community.”
New Website Highlights
1. Enhanced user experience: removing stock photography in favour of vector graphics means reducing the risk of potential content triggers for a survivor. The vectors quickly and accurately depict sub pages for an easier web journey.
2. Updated navigation: the SVSC landing page creates an intuitive interaction opportunity with audience sub-page architecture to help each user find the information they need more intuitively and efficiently.
3. New Ways to Explore: users can now explore supports, resources, forms, policies, initiatives, programs and education through the vector card landing page and the simplified mega menu navigation bar.
“This was a huge labour of love for me,” says Dooley, who has been working on the web updates since last July. “This website is a digital doorway to the vast array of offerings we have, so these updates are an important step towards ensuring our campus is a safe and respectful culture for students, staff and faculty.”