By Inji Kim
In July, the Office of Communications and Marketing revealed that it had begun preliminary meetings for a website redesign project. In its first announcement, the office revealed its interest in taking input from the members of the university community during the process.
Ever since the announcement, the Office of Communications has been sending out regular updates about the development of the new website. In early September, the office shared more in-depth details of the project with the community. In the announcement posted by Kira Poplowski, the Vice President for Communications and Marketing, the process will be divided into two phases. “Our goal for Phase I is to create navigation, content and functionality that better support each phase of the admissions cycle,” explained the update. The first phase is planned to make its debut in December 2016.
Following the September announcement, according to the most recent update that was posted on Oct. 17, the process seems to continue to be on schedule. Since September, the office has reviewed and approved site information architecture, conducted A/B tests with first- and second-year students from the three schools (CLA, Theological School, Caspersen School), and updated content for review after a process of gathering information. The posting also notified the upcoming steps to finalize the homepage design and ultimately launch the new design.
Proceeding the launching of Phase I, the process to develop Phase II will begin in January 2017 and go live on August 2017 with additional advancements on content development in regards to the academic departments of Drew. The new site will be fully responsive, mobile-first and built on flexible, user-friendly templates. The office also revealed that it would continue using WordPress as its content management system and decentralize content management in order to enable the different units and departments to be trained and be responsible for updating and changing their own pages.
Since most prospective students first encounter Drew online, the redesign process promises a positive outcome to the overall admissions experience for these students. Anyone wishing to ask questions regarding the new sit may contact Kira Poplowski at kpoplowski@drew.edu or call x3602.
