GATEWAY TO LEARNING: Selkirk College institutional marketing co-ordinator Lucie Fortier enlisted the services of a local graphic designer and the college’s IT department to come up with the website’s new look and feel.

Selkirk College unveiled its new website last week, and according to Lucie Fortier, the college’s institutional marketing co-ordinator, the new design is cleaner, more straightforward and easier to navigate.

“While we wanted to improve the organization and streamline the user experience, we also wanted to freshen up the visual elements to make it seem more in keeping with college attitudes and the Kootenay lifestyle,” Fortier said.

The website, which was developed in consultation with Hildur Jónasson Design and built by the college’s IT Services division, sports more earthy colours on a white background, and the photos are of hip but casual subjects that are remarkably interesting to view.

“We’re in a very green, ecologically conscious part of the province, and so we’ve shifted our colour palette slightly to include comforting earth tones that are part of our everyday landscape,” Fortier said.

She said she also wanted the photography to capture the essence of the Kootenays with greater fidelity.

In one shot, for example, an elderly man in a blue oxford shirt squints and smiles warmly while considering his continuing education options. “There’s no age limit on higher education,” the tagline reads.

Fortier insists that Selkirk College is accessible to almost anyone. “It’s our way of saying that the college really has something for everyone,” she said.

Along with the updated look online, the college’s marketing department has been retooling its graphic design elements for use in print advertising and other collateral material, which will become more evident in local media during the upcoming year.

Barry Auliffe, director of Communications and Development for the college, felt that it was time to revisit some of the branding elements the college had been using during the past three years, and appeared pleased with the initiative.

“Obviously, this is a good start for us. The competition for student enrolment has increased dramatically, and we believe we offer a very distinctive, high-quality educational experience in the Kootenays,” Auliffe said. “We wanted to make sure that our website and collateral materials give prospective students a clear idea of what we have to offer.”

Auliffe is no stranger to developing marketing campaigns that really strike a chord with the public. He spent 20 years as director of marketing at the B.C. Lottery Corporation before coming to Nelson to live and work.

Selkirk College’s website is the institution’s most prominent marketing tool. Last year, the college’s site received more than 580,000 visits, making it one of the most visited websites in the Kootenays.

For more information about Selkirk College—or just to have a look at the new website—visit www.selkirk.ca.