BDSIL
The Biomedical Data Science Innovation Lab
A website for emerging scientists to participate in an intensive workshop and monthly seminar series.
Client
University of Virginia
Year
2022
Designing and building an event series website
The Biomedical Data Science Innovation Lab and Seminar Series is a yearlong series of events for emerging scientists and they needed a website. The goal was to appeal to potential attendees by allowing them to quickly visualize and learn about the events, begin participating in the seminars, and to easily apply to attend the in-person workshop via an online application. The design was created to show the energy of the in-person event and to enable the event pages to be quickly and easily updated regularly with both new text and images.
Challenges
Dynamic growth
This website needed to promote the events and attract new participants on an ongoing basis, so it would need to grow with new users over time. It also needed to support existing event attendees by having regular updates and adding new content. The event series consists of multiple virtual seminars which would need to be promoted on social media and in the institute’s academic news as each event got closer, so ideally the site graphics would be utilized for multiple purposes.
Compartmentalization using sections
The site images would primarily focus on the in-person event but the larger number of users would be participating in the virtual seminar series. It would be important to find ways to attract new participants to the series alone and not just the lab.
Approach
Visualizations of the Home Page
The home page needed to tell the story of the event series at a glance. Before having any participant photos several illustrations were used. Subsequently years’ updates used photos of the in-person labs. The photos were chosen to give participants an instant idea of what the lab was, and sections were created to help users absorb the content and quickly find links and calls to action.
Landing
The photo on landing and the section directly below it gives users a visualization of the series and a brief explanation of each part of the website.
Call to action
The section immediately below landing provides users with links to participation in the seminars.
About
An explanation of the lab included more photos of lab activities. Potential attendees are able to view past lab environments and read details about the goals and outcomes of the event.
The year’s dates and location
The upcoming year’s lab location details are provided with a map.
Testimonials
Quotes from past participants provide a firsthand review of the experience.
Each year’s upcoming Lab page
A page was needed to provide the details each year for the upcoming lab with specifics on how to apply. Details were again compartmentalized in sections to allow visualization to tell a story about the event and to allow users to absorb priority items at a glance. Quotes from previous participants were interspersed to provide first person experiences.
Landing
Images and the year’s event title are prominent on landing.
Details
Full details are provided with more event images and a testimonial. The blocks of text are broken up in sections and with different styles for quick absorption.
Dates, more details, and links
A section directing users to the seminars and to the location details was placed just ahead of the application details.
Application
A timeline and details to apply are provided with step-by-step instructions. When applications are closed details of the lab requirements and provided.
Seminar series page
A template was created to allow seminar administration to add new seminars to the website on their own as they were scheduled. Additional templates were created to use the same graphics for social media posts.
Past Labs pages
Past event information is provided along with the links to the full event details. Specific artwork was created for each year’s lab and used for t-shirts and other giveaways. For the website it was used as a quick way to reference each event.
Results
Applications to attend the lab and the number of participants in the seminar series has increased each year. Feedback from participants has been positive regarding the site’s clarity and ease of use. Over time additional pages were added to feature mentors, answer frequently asked questions, provide definitions, and add lab outcomes such as publications. As planned, the site continues to expand.
