top ten – 6 to ten
Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS)
A system website with multiple branded college subdomains
What we loved: Brand consistency across multiple subdomains
KCTCS is a system of colleges, and its website makes great use of multiple domains to organize and manage multiple college websites. It uses a main system website that encourages visitors to explore KCTCS colleges and delivers a consistent branding experience across all its college domains, facilitating seamless transition between the college websites.
The main website has an explore all colleges segment right at the center of the homepage, with colleges listed in big tiles. Visitors can click each tile to visit that college’s website.
Pepperdine University
A branded house of higher education websites
What we love: Seamless branding and experience across multiple domains
It is not uncommon for universities and colleges to use multiple domains to serve their numerous department and branch needs. However, not all institutions ace this strategy like Pepperdine.
Like KCTCS, Pepperdine leverages multiple subdomains for each of its school/college’s websites and one community. The school/college domains are focused on recruitment, while the community caters to their internal audience of faculty, staff and current students. All these websites are linked to their main website and are so consistent in their branding that a visitor can move from one domain to another without realizing it.
The purpose of the university’s main website is to encourage visitors to go to its school’s websites, and it does so effectively with multiple CTAs – on the mega menu and large tiles in the center of the homepage.
Rock Valley College
Simplicity at its best
What we loved: An easily navigable, simple, clean homepage
High school students become immensely frustrated when it’s hard for them to find relevant information on higher education websites.
Rock Valley College recently redesigned its website and has successfully prioritized important academic information by making it easy to access.
The website features prominent CTA buttons right at the center of a simple and clean homepage. This helps anyone new to the website navigate it easily without getting distracted or lost.
University of Montana
An extremely engaging application site
What we loved: Personalization and design consistency across their website and subdomain
As more students expect and want to see personalized content on higher ed websites, more institutions are adopting innovative ways to deliver personalized experiences.
Like Ferris State, University of Montana is doing a great job of delivering personalized digital experiences. Since its main website caters to multiple stakeholders, it has specially designed a website domain to attract prospective students and move them through the application funnel. It guides students through the next steps of their application process by displaying personalized content and CTAs.
University of Wyoming
Brand experience with informed decision making
What we loved: Use of integrated course catalog and career pathways
The University of Wyoming partnered with the Modern Campus Design Studio to plan and implement a vibrant web design. The site not only highlights the brand colors and brings out the Cowboy experience, but also leverages maps and virtual tours to bring the campus to life