Content sprawl & structure
Disorganized content and a flat URL structure made it difficult for visitors and search engines to understand where key information lived.
Gordon College
Transforming Gordon College’s online presence
From fragmented to focused
Gordon College’s previous website spanned more than 4,000 URLs and hundreds of unique templates, creating a maze of flat links, inconsistent layouts, and scattered content.
Ahead of a key enrollment cycle, the Gordon marketing team partnered with Mostly Serious to reimagine Gordon.edu as a student-first, editor-friendly experience that could serve prospective and current students, families, faculty, and alumni alike.
Our role
- Web design & development
- Craft CMS implementation
- Content strategy & content marketing
The challenge: rethinking Gordon.edu
Higher education websites naturally carry a high volume of diverse content—program pages, student resources, admissions details, and departmental hubs—but Gordon’s legacy site structure couldn’t keep up.
Years of incremental updates had created a sprawling, hard-to-navigate experience where prospective students bounced between disjointed pages and internal editors wrestled with one-off templates.
Where the legacy site struggled
Inconsistent layouts
Inconsistent page layouts and visual patterns created a cluttered experience that weakened brand cohesion.
Editing inefficiencies
Fragmented content modules left editors managing bespoke page configurations instead of a unified system.
Wayfinding & backend limits
Limited wayfinding cues made it hard for users to stay oriented as they moved between colleges, programs, and resources.
An aging backend made it difficult for non-technical staff to add or update content without developer support.
From legacy sprawl to a focused program experience
We consolidated scattered program content into clear, structured page types.
Academic content is now organized around the questions prospective students actually ask.
Designing for higher ed realities, not just ideal states
Our work with Gordon College started with honest audits of content, IA, and design. Instead of forcing departments into a one-size-fits-all template, we focused on a system that could handle real-world content needs while still feeling cohesive.
The result is a Craft CMS implementation with shared components, smarter navigation, and guardrails that keep pages on brand even as dozens of editors contribute over time.
What we rebuilt together
Smarter content structure
Shifted from a flat URL structure to a hierarchical model that reflects how students actually browse programs and resources.
Consolidated lower-value or redundant pages to reduce clutter and sharpen the narrative.
Standardized content modules so editors can build pages quickly without starting from scratch each time.
Intuitive interface & UX
Established a shared layout grid, typography, and component library to unify the look and feel across departments.
Introduced breadcrumbs, active-state navigation, and clearer calls to action to keep visitors oriented and moving forward.
Refined primary navigation and mobile patterns so key content is never more than a few taps away.
Front-end experience
Built a responsive, performance-tuned front end that scales from large desktop monitors to mobile devices.
Used subtle motion and scroll-driven moments to give the UI a polished, modern feel without getting in the way.
Configured contextual breadcrumbs and navigation patterns to distinguish general college content from individual schools and programs.
Platform & integrations
Implemented Craft CMS with tiered permissions, approval workflows, and an editor-friendly page builder.
Integrated Microsoft Entra ID SSO, embedded Slate and Salesforce forms, and Modern Campus Acalog for real-time course data.
Added a flexible “Landing Pages” entry type so marketing can build campaign destinations without relying on a separate platform.
Designed for every device on campus
Mobile navigation and page layouts were designed to be just as intuitive as desktop.
Prospective students can explore programs, admissions, and campus life without device friction.
Results that stand up to enrollment season
The new Gordon.edu is fully responsive, WCAG-conscious, and optimized for search, giving the institution a flexible digital campus that can scale with new programs, campaigns, and stories over time.
A clearer content structure, consistent layouts, and a modern Craft CMS implementation make it easier for prospective students to find what they need—and for internal teams to publish confidently, including campaign landing pages that no longer rely on a separate tool.
Ready to rethink your higher-ed website?
