WPI.edu
Client: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Project: Art Direction, UXUI Design
Web Platform: Drupal
Beginning in 2015, WPI began a multi-year, university-wide initiative to blow up their website and build an entirely new digital presence on the Drupal platform: a brand new WPI.edu.
There were three guiding principles for the wpi.edu project: content strategy based on creating once and publishing purposefully, an information architecture organized based on who needed the information versus who owned it, and a mobile-first approach to assure an optimal user experience regardless of device.
Project goals:
Provide a consistent, creative, and adaptable look and feel
Assure better findability
Balance multiple audiences and purposes
Develop purposeful and engaging content and ways to distribute across the site
Improve the CMS authoring experience
Provide a technology platform that would allow for quick response to changing communication needs
Launch with a governance plan for author support and training
Prospective students, faculty, and employees get the stories and information they need. This includes a page for every minor/major/degree or certificate; profiles of students at every level (undergraduate to PhD); sections on the distinctive undergraduate curriculum; focused content for admitted students; news and stories from a central repository integrated across the site; and a centralized calendar and portal pages for students, faculty & staff, and alumni .
While WPI did contract with a Drupal development firm and a content strategist, the breadth and depth of the strategy and the implementation were internally-driven by Marketing and IT, a partnership that was critical to the project’s success. The immersion of internal marketing technologists, designers and web application developers with external Drupal developers assured a thoroughly understood technological foundation built to be adapted and strategically expanded. Likewise, Marketing Communications staff drove the Information Architecture based on knowledge of university programs, prospects, and anticipated audience journeys. A hybrid model of central content management and distributed authorship, and governance around adding pages to the IA, assured the new site did not again become a “giant mulch pile,” as notably referenced by a faculty member.
True to the promise to the WPI community, the launch was just the beginning. As changing needs dictate—and as web analytics, heat mapping, and ongoing feedback loops with the community inform—the internal team is continuously adapting and innovating.
Overall, page inventory was reduced by more than 75% with a 10% decrease in pageviews, indicating that the 9 Million pageviews achieved were likely engaged visitors to a smaller, more focused web presence. Top level page traffic increased. For example, external traffic to the homepage increased 11% year over year. User engagement with content also increased notably: time on Page +15% and Bounce Rate -12% year over year.
