Case Study

Web Design UX / UI School Co-op PHP MVC

TIM 312

A showcase site and contact platform for the school co-op run by the Techniques d'intégration multimédia programme at Cégep de Sainte-Foy — built to last, reused each year, and designed to forge a direct link between students and genuine clients.

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My Role

Visual direction & integration

Timeline

8 wks. · 2024

Client

Cégep de Sainte-Foy

Status

Live since 2024

01 — Brief

A FRONT DOOR FOR REAL CLIENTS.

The TIM program had been operating its Jeune Coop for a few years, but without any digital storefront. As a result, potential clients had no clear place to understand what the program offered, how the process worked, or how to get in touch with the instructors.

The mandate was to design a site that clearly explains the service offering, walks clients through the project submission process, and includes a contact form wired directly to teachers, all while being built for annual reuse with minimal maintenance.

Design constraints

01

A contact form baked into the site, wired directly to the programme's teachers.

02

A clear 'Approach' page that details the entire process from start to finish, completely jargon-free.

03

An architecture reusable year to year no rebuilds, no heavy updates.

Visual direction
Design system
UI/UX & prototypes
Visual content & illustrations

PHP MVC integration
Teacher validation
Content strategy

with Christopher Byatt & the programme's teachers

Backend architecture
Server configuration
Post-launch content updates

Approach page

THE PROCESS, WITHOUT THE JARGON.

Clients had one core question before anything else: how does this work? The Approach page answers it with a 5-step illustrated walkthrough from request analysis through to final presentation. Each step spells out what the client commits to and what students commit to, removing ambiguity upfront.

Contact form

REACH THE PROGRAMME. DIRECTLY.

The form collects essential project information (contact details, organization, project description) and routes it directly to the instructors. The goal: for a client to submit a project in less than three minutes, without having to look up an email or go through a secretary.

Rejected

WordPress / generic CMS

The fastest option to deploy. But in a school context, admin access changes every year and WordPress updates are a real breakage risk. Too much maintenance for teachers who shouldn't have to manage it.

Rejected

Bilingual from day one

We considered FR/EN from the start. Scope and timeline didn't allow it — and the programme's primary audience is francophone. We chose a solid French launch over a rushed bilingual one.

Shipped

Custom PHP MVC

A lightweight architecture with no heavy external dependencies. Réalisations and key content are managed through a database. Teachers can update the project list without touching code — and the structure reuses cleanly session to session.

05 — Reflection

WHAT I'D DO DIFFERENTLY

01

Document the handoff from day one. The site will be taken over by future students and we wrote the maintenance documentation too late in the process and could have been more complete.

02

Build the Réalisations page as a core content priority from the start. It was handled as a secondary feature, but it's ultimately the element that convinces a hesitant client.

03

One of our best moves was testing the form with a potential client to get feedback. We also had the UX validated by peers and teachers.

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