The Swinburne University of Technology website, designed by DTDigital, has won the 2009 McFarlane Prize for excellence in Australian web design.
The award was announced today at the Web Directions South conference in Sydney.
The McFarlane Prize rewards web design excellence in the broadest sense. Entries are first assessed for adherence to best practices in accessibility and standards-based coding (correct and valid use of CSS and HTML). The top 15 sites from this phase are then individually assessed in four areas: accessibility, usability, design and coding.
DTDigital's role in the development of the Swinburne site focused on design and usability. We completed a full site audit, re-thought the information architecture and brought a fresh, contemporary graphic style to the site that complements Swinburne's positioning as a vibrant and progressive institution. As part of this graphic approach, DTDigital worked with Swinburne to commission world-renowned illustrator James Gulliver Hancock to create a series of illustrations based around faculty disciplines and other themes.
Adam Morris, DTDigital's Creative Director, led the design strategy on the Swinburne project for DTDigital. Morris commented, "It's fantastic for our design to be honoured by the McFarlane judges, but our hats are off to Swinburne's web team. The quality of their craftsmanship and their application of accessibility and usability best practice are truly world class."
Learn more about our work for Swinburne University.