The university’s website revamp is designed to provide greater aesthetic appeal and better user experience.

The website redesign began in June of 2019 to serve perspective students by increasing the ease of access and streamlining relevant information students most commonly search for.

“Our previous website, while having many positives, attempted to articulate too many things to too many audiences,” said Glenn Bozinski, Vice President of Enrollment Management. “So institutionally, we determined that the most important thing about our new website should be to serve the prospective student audience.”

Bozinski said the website serves as a key marketing tool for the university, a thought that drove the redesign process.

“More than anything, you realize that our website is a very important marketing tool because it’s how students seek you out and we’re always talking about how we can improve their overall online experience interacting with us,” he said.

The new site contains loads of new features designed to help students find information easier and faster. One is the “Find it Fast” enhanced search feature, which is the favorite change of Web Content Coordinator Stephen Filipiak.

“On the old site, we discovered that site search was one of the most popular actions that visitors took, so I was excited to explore how we could enhance that experience. Instead of simply typing in a word into a search box, users can now utilize ‘Find It Fast’ to really find what they are looking for faster,” Filipiak said.

Accessibility for people with disabilities and a commitment to the Americans with Disabilities Act was also a focus of the work.

“My colleague, Dave Johndrow [Manager of PC Services] and I have worked to enhance and optimize our site to conform to important accessibility standards while ongoing testing will continue to ensure optimal accessibility and usability for all users,” said Filipiak.

The success of the redesign was confirmed with an honor: It won a Platinum Hermes Creative Award for Outstanding Web Design.

Bozinski said he predicts the new site will give prospective students a more positive experience.

The website can be seen at www.misericordia.edu.