119 people participated in the poll (10 faculty, 6 parents, 45 staff, 22 students, and 36 alumni). People voted on a scale of 1-5 on 18 pairs of traits. An average score of 3 for a pair of traits is considered a “neutral” score. All numbers in parenthesis below represent the difference between the average vote for that trait, and a neutral score (i.e. the higher the number, the more emphatically people felt about it).
The trait pairs were:
Classic vs. Innovative
Fun vs. Serious
Casual vs. Formal
Energetic vs. Calm
Spontaneous vs. Orderly
Youthful vs. Mature
Dense vs. Sparse
Minimal vs. Elaborate
Soft vs. Hard
Bold vs. Subtle
Security vs. Freedom
Dark vs. Light
Fresh vs. Established
Function vs. Form
Impressive vs. Inviting
Challenging vs. Comfortable
Overall
Strong Consensus ( > .6)
- Comfortable (.74), not challenging
- Minimal (.65), not elaborate
- Fresh (.63), not established
- Light (.62), not dark
Moderate Consensus (.4 – .59)
- Orderly (.58), not spontaneous [ first-year students voted for spontaneous (.3) ]
- Innovative (.58), not classic
- Function (.54), not form [ non-first year students voted for form (.13) ]
- Warm (.53), not cool
- Inviting (.47), not impressive
Minor Consensus (.2 – .39 )
- Sparse (.39), not dense
- Freedom (.38) not security
- Interaction (.3), not presentation
- Bold (.26), not subtle
No Consensus (< .2)
- Fun vs. Serious [ preferred serious: faculty (.6), non-first year students (.2) ]
- Energetic vs. Calm [ preferred calm: faculty (.5), non-first year students (.33) ]
- Mature vs. Youthful [ preferred youthful: parents (.17), first year students (.14) ]
- Casual vs. Formal [ preferred formal: faculty (.3), non-first year students (.09), alums (.08) ]
- Hard vs. Soft [ preferred soft: parents (.67), first-year students (.5) ]
Observations
- When there was a disagreement on a trait, first year students tended to agree with parents, and non-first year students tended to agree with faculty.
By Group
Priorities By Group
Top 10 pairs by audience group. Terms color coded to help visualization.
Overall
- comfortable (.74)
- minimal (.65)
- fresh (.63)
- light (.62)
- orderly (.58)
- innovative (.58)
- function (.54)
- warm (.53)
- inviting (.47)
Alumni
- light (.69)
- comfortable (.65)
- function (.63)
- orderly (.54)
- minimal (.52)
- inviting (.39)
- fresh (.38)
- warm (.38)
- innovative (.35)
Parents
- comfortable (1.5)
- warm (1.17)
- orderly (1.17)
- fresh (1)
- light (.83)
- function (.83)
- soft (.67)
- innovative (.67)
- inviting (.67)
Staff
- fresh (.8)
- comfortable (.78)
- inviting (.76)
- warm (.69)
- function (.67)
- minimal (.63)
- innovative (.58)
- light (.54)
- orderly (.51)
Faculty
- fresh (1.25)
- minimal (1)
- innovative (1)
- comfortable (.9)
- warm (.88)
- freedom (.71)
- sparse (.7)
- orderly (.6)
- serious (.6)
Students (overall)
- comfortable (.72)
- light (.7)
- orderly (.64)
- innovative (.64)
- minimal (.6)
- sparse (.52)
- mature (.45)
- warm (.3)
- fresh (.32)
Students (yr = 1)
- innovative (1)
- fun (.86)
- function (.86)
- energetic (.71)
- fresh (.57)
- soft (.5)
- minimal (.43)
- interaction (.43)
- warm (.43)
Students (yr > 1)
- orderly (1.07)
- mature (.73)
- sparse (.71)
- minimal (.67)
- light (.68)
- comfortable (.53)
- innovative (.47)
- calm (.33)
- freedom (.3)
Observations
Traits that stand out as unique (or nearly unique) in their importance to specific audiences:
- Faculty: serious, freedom, sparse [ instead of the more popular traits light, function, inviting ]
- Students (yr = 1): fun, energetic, interaction, soft [ instead of light, comfortable, order, inviting ]
- Students (yr >1): calm, mature, freedom, sparse [ instead of fresh, function, warm, inviting ]
- Parents: soft [ instead of minimal ]
Most similar groups: alumni & staff
Least similar groups: parents & older students // faculty & first-year students
Non-student (older audience) words: inviting, fresh, warm
Student words: mature, fun, energetic, calm
Academic words (faculty & older students): freedom, sparse
