College of Science Data Science website

Client: Purdue College of Science
Role: Designer and Developer

When Purdue began the Integrative Data Science Initiative, it became clear that the College of Science would play a large role in it. In November 2018, I met with Professor Paschou, then a Dean's Fellow in the Department of Biological Sciences. She needed a website for the new College of Science Data Science Initiative. It needed to attract students and funding, the latter through industry partners or grants.

I was given the majority of the content early, which gave me time to put together a document proposing the site's navigation and content structure. I sent Professor Paschou my suggestions in mid-November. She responded quickly and let me know that the website needed to be finished by the end of the semester. Given the importance of the initiative, I made this project my top priority.

Once Professor Paschou approved the navigation and content structure (with some minor changes), I turned my focus to the design. While there were several university-branded website templates available, I wasn't sure which would work best or how much customization the design would need. In addition, the hardest part of this project was the homepage design. None of the branded site templates were the right fit. I drew inspiration from Purdue's main Data Science website and a few print magazines. I designed a mock-up in Photoshop and sent it to Professor Paschou for review. She approved of the layout.

I finished building the site at the end of November. However, due to Professor Paschou's other commitments, the project deadline got pushed back to 2019, as the site still needed some additional content and images. The website launched in early March.