later this summer, following more than a year of preparation, Bucknell will begin rolling out its redesigned website — a project comprising much more than a cosmetic refresh. Each of the more than 1,200 pages on the new site has been revised, rewritten and rebuilt from scratch to provide a more intuitive and customized experience for its many audiences, including prospective students, current students, parents, faculty and staff, and alumni.
The website is organized thematically to help users find what they’re looking for quickly, with current information for key audiences arranged on curated landing pages. Alumni visitors accessing the site in the spring, for instance, will find details all in one place about Reunion and other upcoming opportunities to reconnect with Bucknell.
“We’ve thought a lot about who our audiences are and what they’re looking for and listened to their voices through surveys and interviews with students, parents, professors, staff members and alumni,” says Heather Johns, interim chief communications officer. “We’ve worked hard to create an online experience that lives up to our users’ expectations, and we look forward to their feedback as we continue to add content to the site.”
The redesigned site will also provide an easier navigation experience for the roughly 50 percent of users who access bucknell.edu from their smartphones, and it leverages the latest technology to ensure users enjoy the best functionality, accessibility and security features available. It will also showcase the beauty of Bucknell with better integration of photography and video content.
Bucknell’s Division of Communications developed the new website in collaboration with redesign partner Bluecadet, a national firm that has created websites and interactive installations for the National Air and Space Museum, Philadelphia’s Independence Visitor Center and the Gates Foundation, as well as higher-ed clients including Princeton and Swarthmore. The University will continue adding to the site through periodic releases of new content and regular updates to existing pages, ensuring users always have access to the most current information. Explore the site later this summer at bucknell.edu.