A scenic fall day of person walking in front of a brick building in the background

University Website Design Conversion

In 2025, I led a digital experience transformation & UX redesign of the University of Wyoming website, migrating 27,000 pages into a scalable component-based design system.

Project Highlights

Redesigned and implemented 17 component-based templates
On-time launch through rigorous 15-month project timeline
Migrated 27,000 pages (reduced from 65,000) into consistent designs
500 high-impact pages completely rebuilt with SEO content and GEO/AEO schema
Page views and event interactions increased by 27% in the first 30 days of go-live
400+ site editors onboarded and retrained through major support plan

Following an enterprise level Content Management System upgrade that I led in 2023, the second phase of the University of Wyoming’s website improvement phase had arrived after raising my hand to the responsibility that so many had avoided for years—and for good reason. The university’s site was still operating on an unbelievably outdated version of Bootstrap and a decade-old design. Accessibility errors and broken links plagued our site. Dozens of site editors were still using custom code that manipulated UW’s brand into unrecognizable and inconsistent remnants. There were no rules and little training. It was the wild West.

Several years ago, a developer at my former employer introduced me to Figma. ‘You mean I can create a layout without the restricting layers and rules of Adobe Photoshop?’ I remember thinking while I effortlessly clicked through the wireframe prototypes and extended my knowledge into this new world of UX design. I became highly proficient and when the opportunity presented itself, I initiated the boldest step ever taken in my career and began redesigning the concepts you now see on UW’s website today.

View Designs

The design was only the beginning. Migrating a site of this size took careful planning and forecasting, deep knowledge of UW’s site infrastructure, and influence among key stakeholders to secure over $500,000. The project lasted about 15 months from concept to go-live and was only made possible with an investment with our partners at Modern Campus who provided front and back-end development, migration support, and a great product that we knew could bring our digital footprint back into a cohesive identity.

Notable Accomplishments

Degree Page Centralization

We centralized 330 degree pages that were redesigned for a conversion-focused prospective student journey. Visitors can now use our new Program Finder tool that generates results from an XML feed based on program type or interest. Once buried deep in other directories with inaccurate information, the new degree pages have accounted for a 62% YOY increase in page views (172,812 views change). The average user engagement time has increased from 42 to 80 seconds—effectively doubling our potential to move students through the funnel.

We also discovered a 38% reduction in undeclared majors for the fall 2026 incoming class when compared to the previous year. While an undecided student does not necessarily indicate a risk of drop out, declaration of a program of study provides a more cost-effective path for students and early intervention potential if they show warning signs of academic challenges.

Data from July 28, 2025 – March 7, 2026

Site Health & Governance Improvement

The redesign made me hyper aware of UW’s dire site health situation. Accessibility is a top concern in higher education and a personal commitment that I hold in high regard. Our outdated site copmonents were causing code-level accessibility errors that could only be remedied through a redesign. The CMS had also become a dumping ground of old documents and files, all of which are subject to Title II Digital Accessibility compliance. I went through several migration script iterations, challenging the process each time to help reduce the amount of accessibility errors and migrated content complications. The time invested paid off, with an outcome of:

99% compliance of WCAG 2.1 AA standards (up from 76% prior to update)
ARIA accessibility violations were reduced from 9,900 to 0
Reduction of 75,000+ abandoned, inaccessible PDF stored in the CMS
Broken links and page errors reduced by 10,000+
Identification of 500 server-level errors for better redirect support

Before & After

Take a scroll through time and view the improvements made to UW's key pages. Select each image to view more details.

A screenshot of a website with three people walking and three icons showing how to begin an enrollment process at the University of Wyoming.

A Special Thank You

It took a special team who put a level of trust in me that I didn't know was possible to pull this off. They have become experts in their craft, "coach up" when I need it most, and worked tirelessly towards an outcome that others before us were too afraid to take on. Thank you Shelbey, Caroline, Emily E., Emily H., Akriti, Marree, Pat, Isaac, Hannah, and Chloe for alwyas showing up and believing in my vision.

Thank you also to Ashley, Nick, Shaye, Jess, Sonja, Mikey, Marcel, and all the Modern Campus team who looked at my Figma designs and said "let's do it". I've never experienced a vendor partnership so balanced and kind in all my time in marketing.