One university, one website

What if your web design system could be a catalyst for bigger conversations about how each unit's website fits together into a whole? A framework to think about digital communication? Maybe you've seen first-hand or you've heard the benefits of a shared design system: a consistent brand experience, better use of budgets — colleges and other units can focus their $$ on web strategy and content instead of paying for yet another set of templates and CMS integration. But is that all you can expect?

The University of Tennessee Knoxville's Office of Communications and Marketing started their digital transformation journey over five years ago. They knew a design system would play a key role. OCM found a partner in NewCity who was willing to jump in with them and work as part of the team, shaping a solution for the UTK Web Design System that was right for them.

What started as an idea for a flexible UTK-branded WordPress theme has grown, through experimentation, iteration and collaboration, into a vision for a united web experience.

Chris Echols, UTK's director of digital communications, describes their journey like this: "We learned that it was our responsibility to recalibrate the expectations of our campus community, our communicators and our leadership about what their websites are supposed to be doing in the first place and why. In our case, they thought about their websites as their property, their tool, their messaging and rarely considered the overall experience for someone coming to the university's website. That's why a consistent approach, design system and governance is critical."

The OCM team captured this vision in the guiding principle "One University, One Website." Michael Purdy, assistant director of web communications, explains it like this to his colleagues: "You don't have a website, you have the engineering section of the University of Tennessee's website."

This presentation will focus more on strategy, the"why" behind a journey like this, key roles to consider, things you need to decide, lessons learned. It will not require a technical background. Presenters Michael Purdy (UT Knoxville), Rachel Easterbrook (NewCity) and Mike Henderson (NewCity) are the folks who did the work, and have the stories (and jokes) to tell.