Minneapolis College of Art and Design

Updating to Drupal 8 gave MCAD an opportunity to invest in a beautiful, accessible website redesign.

A laptop on a wooden desk displays a website for youth art classes, enhanced by custom software to elevate the customer experience. The background features plants and colorful artwork, while art supplies and a small lamp adorn the desk.

The challenge

The MCAD website needed to move off the soon-to-be unsupported Drupal 7 platform

The transition to Drupal 8 was an opportunity to showcase their new brand identity online, create an accessible experience tailored to their audiences, and enable lead generation for prospective students.

What we did

  • Aligned stakeholders and project partners through discovery and strategic planning activities; prioritized requirements within budget constraints
  • Reviewed technical systems and uncovered complex business logic in the existing site that was an important and necessary consideration for development
  • Identified common patterns for reuse throughout the experience which created efficiencies in project timeline and budget
  • Collaborated with MCAD’s branding partner to create a modern, artistic site that pushes the envelope of design
  • Streamlined the application process and data collection
  • Created a highly accessible user experience by simplifying the navigation and design, making content easier to discover and find
  • Prominently displayed a rotating assortment of student artwork throughout the site
  • Custom back-end development supports the complex visual design, enhances site functionality, and maintains accessibility
  • Developed a custom continuing education catalog and ecommerce solution to provide an improved shopping experience
  • Extended integrations with Salesforce capture multiple types of leads across different areas of the site: prospective students, continuing education, general contact leads
Three mobile web page designs act as a digital solution showcasing creative content. The pages display various images and text, such as artwork, a group photo, and articles about art and education. A diverse range of artistic styles and layouts are featured across the seamless customer experience.
A split-screen image showcasing three webpages from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Each page features text and colorful illustrations, enhancing user experience while highlighting the schools mission, student body diversity, and stories about alumni and students.

Outcomes

2x

Traffic doubled over the first year

52%

Increase in users

60%

Increase in pageviews

64%

Increase in mobile usage

Through this update, MCAD saw Increased lead generation and conversions on partially completed applications. The new site also resulted in an increased accessibility score compared to previous site (as measured by SiteImprove).

How we did it

“Thank you Clockwork for making a very complex new website look beautiful in its simplicity, design, and usability.”

VP, Minneapolis College of Art and Design
A split image displays a computer on the left with a website for MCAD, showcasing digital solutions for creative cultural leaders. On the right, a painting of a person swimming underwater captures distorted reflections and bubbles in an exquisite experience design.
A split image; left shows a tablet displaying colorful abstract art and text about creative leaders, highlighting a unique digital solution. Right depicts a painted scene of a person submerged in water, with the surface reflecting their image and creating wavy patterns.
A laptop displaying a digital magazine layout against a green backdrop showcases an article titled Petitier Illustrates Story for Noema Magazine. Enhanced by custom software, the screen features additional images and text excerpts on the right, elevating user experience with its elegant design.

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