USC Employee Gateway & Gateway Connect
Website & Newsletter Redesign
Art Direction, Motion Graphics, Design, & Photo Editing: Kandace Selnick
Creative Direction: Candice Lawson
Web Developer: Cheryl Xu
Team: USC Human Resources, Equal Opportunity, and Compliance Strategic Communications
A comprehensive refresh of USC’s Employee Gateway website and Gateway Connect newsletter was undertaken to enhance the faculty and staff experience.
The goal: to establish a cohesive visual identity, introduce a more welcoming and user-friendly interface, and strengthen the impact of USC’s key internal communications platforms.
Adhering to the USC Brand & Identity guidelines, an expressive visual framework was designed to lead and increase user engagement.
Further improvements include:
A refined site map and improved wayfinding to help visitors navigate and find information more easily.
Strengthened accessibility features to ensure an inclusive experience for all users.
A scalable design framework that supports future growth and adaptability.
Refreshed Pages
Old Employee Gateway Website
Newsletter
The Gateway Connect newsletter was refreshed to feel more welcoming by enhancing the user experience, refreshing the visual design, and by developing a minimal design and layout that was consistent with the website.
The template was built with a modular grid structure that could seamlessly adapt to diverse content types, while prominently showcasing noteworthy stories catering to the faculty and staff readership. The redesigned layout brought about improvements in readability, scanability, and an overall enhanced user experience for readers. The condensed format ensured rapid weekly updates and modifications, accommodating varying content and news. Furthermore, a dedicated photo template was created, enabling consistent image sizes and fostering a seamless workflow between the newsletter and website article postings.
Previous Layout
Visual Brand Identity
Homepage Animation
The homepage banner sets the tone for the user experience, offering a dynamic and engaging introduction to the site’s content.
An animated scroll showcases key terms like resources, news, benefits, and support, instantly conveying the site’s purpose while maintaining their focus on the homepage content. These emphasized keywords carry through to each landing page, seamlessly integrating with the Employee Gateway branding through a cohesive gradient color palette.
Custom Iconography
A custom icon set was designed to guide users through a list of "table of contents" topics on landing pages.
Each illustrative icon visually represents its corresponding topic, creating a clear and engaging navigation experience. Designed as a cohesive system, the icons maintain consistency with the USC brand and the Employee Gateway site's visual identity. Additionally, GIF animations were created for featured callouts in the Gateway Connect newsletter, adding dynamic visual interest.
Icon design by Liz Crabbe
Art Direction and Animation by Kandace Selnick
Photography
Selection of featured images below.
Photography by Edward Carreon
Creative Direction, Art Direction, and Photo Editing by Kandace Selnick
USC’s campus offers a wealth of visual inspiration, rich with history and iconic architecture. This project aimed to showcase its unique character by capturing meaningful moments and details that resonate with the USC community.
The goal was to convey not just the essence of Southern California but the distinct experience of stepping onto USC’s campus—a space defined by Romanesque architecture, cascading waterfalls, towering clock towers, and vibrant cardinal flowers.
After careful research and location selection, I directed the photoshoot and photo editing. The aim was to evoke the serene beauty of Los Angeles during sunrise and sunset. The natural light and color palette of the sky enhanced the warm tones of the campus's architecture, capturing the spirit of the USC community. This approach not only highlighted USC’s beauty but also reflected its place within the dynamic and culturally rich landscape of Los Angeles.
Engagement Banners
Leading the Art Direction and design for the engagement pages, my goal was to infuse a unique and celebratory experience into the banners. The banner design was animated to mark the introduction and launch of the first edition of the revitalized newsletter.
Design and Animation by Kandace Selnick
