Engage!

Swarthmore celebrates a dynamic website redesign this spring, focused on making the site more engaging, accessible, and beautiful.

“The design and site structure is informed by quantitative and qualitative research on how current and prospective students, faculty, staff, alumni, and parents use and engage with Swarthmore.edu,” says Alisa Giardinelli, interim vice president for communications.

The year-and-a-half-long process included focus groups and other research that guided the project; wireframes and design prototypes; the actual development and building of the site; the migration of the previous site’s content to the new one; and the creation of new content the site now features, says web designer Steven Lin.

The new mobile-first design improves the site’s functionality and includes the addition of a set of Spanish-language pages within the admissions section. Pages specifically for alumni and parents reflect the overall site improvements, including more photos, easier navigation, and enhancements to the alumni directory.

“The new website represents more than 18 months of effort and collaboration between ITS and Communications—a small but mighty team of writers, developers, and designers,” says Giardinelli. “We’re grateful to everyone who allowed us to visit their classes and meetings, reviewed iterations of the site, and shared their thoughts throughout the many stages of the redesign process.”