Columbia College Chicago Counselor Map
This project was created in response to prospective students needing a quick way to find their most trusted resource in the college admissions process—the admissions counselor. colum.edu/admissions
Under the Hood
This project required new data structures to store information about Columbia’s admissions counselors and the populations they served. This information also needed to be easy for Admissions staff to modify. While I initially prototyped this data using WordPress’s REST API and Advanced Custom Fields, for production, this functionality was adapted to the College’s primary CMS (Hannon Cascade) so team members could easily edit data in a familiar system.
For the front end, I used SVGs for the map navigation and React, React Router, and Styled Components under the hood. This allowed for solid component portability for future development updates and with some optimizations, a nimble and responsive experience for users.
Outcomes
Before this project was completed, the Admissions team’s front-line staff had to spend a lot of time redirecting calls and emails to individual counselors who could provide prospective students with the context and information they needed. The simplicity of this app and prominently spotlighting it on the main /admissions page reduced these extraneous interactions and helped provide a fully customized user experience for those needing more information about the College.