What is Sustainability at USC?

USC is a global leader in education, athletics, and — more recently — sustainability. Their dedication to fostering an eco-friendly and socially responsible campus is woven into every facet of the institution, from energy-efficient buildings and cutting-edge research to community outreach and individual responsibility.

The Ask

As USC became a green powerhouse, the Office of Sustainability tried lots of new approaches and iterated often, crucial aspects of building a successful new program. Once they got serious traction, however, the OoS realized that the sustainability presence within the USC web ecosystem had grown to become disorganized and, frankly, outright confusing. There were now two separate websites, green.usc.edu and sustainability.usc.edu, that served near-identical functions. Additionally, the Communications team was planning a high-level sustainability site section directly on www.usc.edu that would highlight the latest and greatest sustainability achievements.

I was brought on to clean up the digital spaces that the OoS had built, optimizing for students, staff, faculty, and anyone else who wanted to know more about sustainability at USC. My first priority was making sense of the tools that USC had built and how they got there.

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After plotting out the structure of both sites, talking with stakeholders across the university, and identifying the best- and worst-performing pages and services being offered, I was able to develop a simple, straightforward framework that leveraged both websites to become distinct assets while complementing each other.

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The sustainability.usc.edu website became the main gateway for sustainability practices at USC. There, students, faculty, and staff can access tools, news, and actionable steps to contribute toward the USC sustainability goals defined in their plan, Assignment: Earth.

The green.usc.edu website ended up being an ideal location for sustainability-adjacent content, as well as deep dives into campus and university data. It now hosts a Green Directory, a Sustainability Course Finder, a Sustainability Research Finder, and a Sustainability Data Hub.

All university activities directly and primarily focused on sustainability is displayed on the former site, while all collaborators, programs, groups, and others with a "hint of green" or otherwise support sustainability as a secondary effort are accessible through the latter site.

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Not only does this information architecture clearly delineate between two tiers of involvement, it was a blast to design. Also, the layout of these sites ended up becoming go-to templates for other offices and departments across the university.

Want to know more about this project? Email me at the link below.

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