NewCity

La Salle University

Transitioning a dispersed multisite web presence to one site and WordPress theme allowed La Salle University to unify the user experience for their varied audiences and set their internal team up for success. 

Nuts &
Bolts

Project Scope

  • Discovery, assessment and planning 
  • Audience research & site strategy
  • Content strategy, design, & buildout
  • Large-scale site migration
  • Salesforce and Slate page styling
  • Filterable program finder
  • Enrollment strategy
  • Analytics & data reporting

CMS
WordPress

Site Size
Approx. 5,000 indexed pages

What do you do when you have big ideas, but a small team?

You find the right partner who knows how to amplify your many strengths.

La Salle is a historic East Coast Catholic university with deep European roots and excellence in academics and athletics. They had great content to offer prospective students online, but over the last 19 years, their web presence had reached 5,000+ pages. This tangle of websites was dispersed over 120 different WordPress sites and 30 different design themes, with duplicate and outdated content. Students couldn’t find important information and the site lacked clear enrollment funnel CTAs.

They needed one unified site that made navigation easier, highlighted their programs and expressed their refreshed brand identity. They also needed a solution that empowered La Salle’s small team to tell their story consistently and meet the needs of internal stakeholders.

After a thorough discovery phase and UX research, NewCity helped La Salle transition from a dispersed multisite web presence to one WordPress theme, with one cohesive design system with consistent web templates and one CMS administration area. They also revised the global navigation and information architecture and developed a fresh new content strategy with updated copy and content across high value areas of the site, like academics and degree program pages. 

The result is one unified web experience that welcomes prospective students, optimizes for the student journey and supports enrollment priorities.

The new component system and content plan also equipped La Salle’s team to build pages, write content, publish and manage upkeep with new ease. Post-launch, they were even able to publish a new major on the site within a couple days of board approval- an impossible task before the redesign. 

"Now we know what our toolbox is full of, to be able to turn around new pages within a day. It helps us focus our vision and communicate to our partners what we need. So we don’t have to be design experts anymore, we need to be content strategists."
Gregory Fala
Assistant Vice President for Marketing and Digital Strategy, La Salle University

Practical, Usable, Fast: the Program Finder

The program finder was a key usability requirement for La Salle. UX Research revealed that students were struggling to locate their desired programs. NewCity recommended a practical, functional tool, and set the search to filter by program type, area of interest and format. This solution met the needs of prospective students and La Salle’s internal team. 

"New City offered a path of total customization at a really high value proposition, to be partners throughout the project. They understood our needs, they wanted us to succeed and they helped us reach our vision. The partnership was just a really good fit, between the expertise of the team, and the personalities involved- not overbearing, just practical, personal and caring."
Gregory Fala
Assistant Vice President for Marketing and Digital Strategy