Site Dev · Case study

How we designed & built Palmetto Ridge Junior College

A behind-the-scenes look at the process: the research, the people we designed for, how the site is organized, the wireframes and flows, the design system, and the Drupal build that lets a small team keep 150+ pages current.

Start with the brief → View the live site
Live pages & stories
138
Programs, structured
33
Deliverables
8
Personas
4
Editorial roles
5
Experiences (portal & dashboard)
2

The challenge

A 132-year-old college with a website that felt older

Palmetto Ridge’s legacy site had grown page by page for over a decade: 640 pages, 212 PDFs, no mobile layout, and admissions forms that disappeared into a shared inbox. Prospective students couldn’t tell what a program cost or how long it took, and current students called the Welcome Center to ask about deadlines that were posted somewhere, in a PDF.

Behind the scenes, publishing a simple news story took five days and two people who knew the old CMS. The goal: one warm, credible experience that gets every kind of student to their next step quickly, on a phone, and a Drupal platform that a small communications team can actually run.

Project snapshot

Client
Palmetto Ridge Junior College (fictional)
Engagement
Website redesign, CMS modernization, student portal & staff dashboard
Process
4 phases · Discover, Define, Design, Develop · 14 weeks
Team
Strategy, UX research, UI design, content, Drupal engineering, QA
Platform
Drupal 11 · custom Palmetto theme · Gin admin
Standard
WCAG 2.2 AA · mobile-first · plain language

Our process

Four phases, each with something to show

Every phase ended with a deliverable the college could react to. Nothing was built until the design was seen and approved.

  1. 01

    Discover

    Stakeholder interviews, analytics review, a competitive audit and a full content inventory.

  2. 02

    Define

    Personas and journey maps, the information architecture, the Drupal content model and the migration plan.

  3. 03

    Design

    User flows, low-fidelity wireframes, usability testing, the clickable prototype and the design system.

  4. 04

    Develop

    Drupal build, content entry, accessibility and QA, performance, security and launch readiness.

Deliverables

Explore the work

01 · Discover

Project Brief & Strategy

Goals, success metrics, scope, stakeholders, a competitive audit, the content inventory and the 14-week timeline.

View deliverable → 02 · Define

Personas & Journey Maps

Four research-based personas — a first-generation student, a returning adult, a current student and a staff editor — with a journey map.

View deliverable → 03 · Define

Sitemap & Information Architecture

Every section of the public site, the Hawk Portal and the staff tools, organized around what people come to do.

View deliverable → 04 · Define

Content Model & Migration

The Drupal content types, fields and taxonomies, and how 640 legacy pages became structured, reusable content.

View deliverable → 05 · Design

UI/UX Flow Charts

Step-by-step flows for finding a program, applying, using the Hawk Portal and publishing through editorial review.

View deliverable → 06 · Design

Wireframes & Prototype

Annotated low-fidelity layouts for the key templates, usability findings, and the approved clickable prototype.

View deliverable → 07 · Design

Design System & Style Guide

The crest, color tokens, typography, components, iconography, imagery and voice & tone.

View deliverable → 08 · Develop

Drupal Build & QA

The stack, architecture, custom module, workflow and roles, accessibility checklist, QA results and launch readiness.

View deliverable →

Design principles

Every student, every deviceFirst-generation, returning adult, veteran, international: each has a clear path within two clicks of the homepage. Rooted, not old-fashionedA crest and serif type for 132 years of history; clean layouts and real photography for today. Structured once, shown everywherePrograms, events and announcements are entered once and appear on every page, list and portal that needs them. Editors firstA dashboard in plain language, a review step, and saved versions, so a small team can publish with confidence.
Students studying together in the Learning Commons

Palmetto Ridge Junior College is a fictional institution. This case study demonstrates process and deliverables for portfolio purposes.