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Feb. 9, 2021: CMU website redesign project progressing

This article originally appeared in CMU News Feb. 9, 2021.

Central Michigan University’s website redesign, a key project geared toward advancing the university’s enrollment efforts, continues to progress.

Highlights of this project include:

  • Incorporation of CMU’s new brand — “We do.” — into writing, stories, tone and voice. New visual components also will be added, including fonts, graphics and accent colors to complement the familiar maroon and gold palette.
  • A media-rich homepage layout comprised of videos and pictures.
  • Improved search features and a user-friendly program finder.
  • Designs and layouts adapted for various screen sizes to ensure accessibility on all devices, including phones and tablets.
  • Separate spaces for external and internal content to better tailor information to the user. Internal content will be the focus of phase two of the project.
  • The timeline for the project, which kicked off in May 2019, has shifted to ensure a full external website experience launches all at one time.
“We are shifting away from a previously planned phased approach, in which the initial launch would include a minimum viable product, or MVP, phase,” Lisa Wendland, director of digital strategy and project lead, said. “We will now launch a full external site experience all at one time.”

Wendland noted that moving to a full-site external launch approach provides many benefits, including:

  • Better user experience, with a focus on future students.
  • No redirects that would send our visitors back and forth between our new and old sites.
  • Additional time for change management, training and integrations.
  • Consistency of site content.
  • Lower risk and cost overall.
A full updated timeline for the external site, including an estimated launch date, will be available in May.
Blog: Web Insights Blog posted | Last Modified: | Author: by Digital Strategy Team | Categories: University Communications
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