Background

The ISB Website in 2008 was a sprawling of 5000+ pages, many static, a result of organic growth — departments, schools and institutions, and greater ambition and scope.

Problem

The website’s planning and organization presented an image that lagged far behind its reality as a world class business school, a status that it achieved in less than a decade. In particular the reflection of ISB’s constituent entities on their web pages reflected not harmonised autonomy but mindless individualism, diluting the ISB identity.

Architecture

The key to restoring ISB’s identity lay in unifying and organizing all its arms under a common structure of content and needs. This required us to abstract a master architecture that covered all of ISB’s constituents, from large to small. The finished result, after six months of wireframes, had the profound effect of creating ‘One ISB’ as well as a path for future expansion. The navigation was considerably simplified.

The visual design adds the right note of formality and class. Crucially, it builds in the differentiation of ISB entities, from institutional microsites to student clubs, yet preserves the sense of one ISB. Specific photography guidelines and an imaging program, guide each situation, depending on its messaging need, so as to reflect an ambience of collaboration and vitality.