Adrian College launches new, interactive website
ADRIAN — Adrian College has officially launched a new, secure and interactive website.
The process of introducing a new website took about two years and a lot of innovative work from a combined team of marketing and web design experts, a news release from AC said. The college’s marketing and public relations department began transferring data from its “old, outdated” website, created in 2012, to the newly launched website at the end of 2020.
“Technology advanced significantly during those years and Adrian College’s website became outdated and was unsecure,” the release said. “Now, Adrian College’s website is completely secure and has all the new bells and whistles available to users.”
The website will also be able to keep up with new advancements by incorporating improved features in the future, the release added.
Adrian College Marketing Director Claire Simpson took over the new website project in April 2022 when she was promoted to the director role and led the creative team to the new look and feel sought after by the college’s administration. Simpson said it was hard to select any one best feature because so many have been added.
“There are a ton of new features that I’m excited about,” she said in the release. “The mobile-friendly aspect, I think, will make a big difference. The site is easy to navigate, and the high-quality photos and video will make the new website really stand out to visitors. I think we’ve reached our goal in creating a good feel for Adrian College.”
Simpson and her staff gathered input from the college’s senior leadership and attended multiple meetings with program directors and department staff to ensure their webpages would accurately reflect what was being offered. She also worked hand-in-hand with FORM, a digital-first creative agency that designed the integrated website, according to the release.
Simpson praised her marketing team members, who, she said, picked up the slack of other projects that she normally would have taken on so that her primary focus could be bringing the new website together. AC’s marketing team has three staff members, the release said.
Frank Hribar, AC vice president of enrollment and student affairs, oversaw the project.
“One of the first things visitors read when getting to our new website’s landing page is the statement, ‘A Culture of Innovation.’ We feel those simple words summarize the type of educational institution Adrian College is known for,” Hribar said, in the release. “Adrian College is also known for how immaculate and stunning our grounds are. Parents and students commonly say that is one of the reasons they come to Adrian. We want them to get the same feel for our campus when they are online using our new website.”
One of the biggest changes, according to the release, was making the college’s website secure. In doing so, AC’s hyperlink is now https://www.adrian.edu/. The addition of the “s” at the end of the “http” stands for “secure,” which indicates the website is using a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate. This certificate, the release said, lets users know all of their data is encrypted as its passes from the browser to the website’s server.
Simpson noted users navigating the older website version said they were not comfortable providing personal information online.
“Now we have a site that is secure and protects all of that personal information,” she said.
Improvements, new features and enhancements of the new website include:
A “header alert” banner, which communicates updates to viewers.
Mobile-friendly displays for viewing on different media devices.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed capability that allows users to stay up to date on the latest published articles and social media posts.
New enrollment management implementation for online applications, requesting information and other admissions-related needs and materials.
Search or filter by degree, program or field to study to find an undergraduate or graduate program that best suits a student’s needs.
Chat feature for easy access to librarians.
Access to the library’s digital resources from on or off campus, with the ability to change display language and font sizes.
High-resolution photo and video capability.
Net price calculator tool allowing students to calculate how much a college education at Adrian College is likely to cost.
Interactive campus map that allows users to explore campus and utilize features such as satellite view and zoom and detail of facilities including photos and videos.
Archived news releases and articles dating back to 2018, which are searchable by year.
“I’m relieved, and also fairly emotional about the (website’s) launch, because this was my first really big project as (marketing) director,” Simpson said. “I’m excited, because when I was a student here the old adrian.edu website is the one I was using, and that’s been years now. So the fact that we still had that old website gives me a big sense of accomplishment that we were able to actually launch a completely updated website that will be used for years to come.”
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Adrian College launches new, interactive website
