University Systems of Maryland
Case Study: Custom website for the University of Maryland, Hagerstown
THE CHALLENGE
USMH feels like a school, but it’s not. USMH is an entity that has multiple schools, and that can be confusing.
When someone says “I go to USMH,” they may actually get their degree from Frostburg University, or Maryland University of the Eastern Shore, or another partner university. Functionally, this is an entity called a “Regional Higher Education Center,” and we needed to help explain what that means.
THE SOLUTION
We focused on the campus of USMH, and promoted the participating universities.
In many cases, we lead the website visitors away from the USMH website to their partnering university, instead of keeping them on the USMH website. Because, in order to take classes at USMH, future applicants need to apply with a partner university, such as Towson University, for example.
This atypical website strategy shows the the importance of audience research and appropriate goal-setting, because in common website development, we would want to keep visitors on the website, and prevent them from leaving. For the future students for USMH, that would be abysmally frustrating.
Make it Maryland but Make it Us
We partnered with local design firm, Origin Design Co. They helped us reimagine the USMH website with the Maryland color story of red, black, and gold, but introduced a blue, which is often used for the City of Hagerstown and Washington County. This blue not only gives local vibe, but when placed overtop images, it feels approachable and vibrant.
THE DESIGN
“THEIR DEGREES. OUR CAMPUS.”
Streamlining the project for our clients means we handle it all:
Marketing Strategy
Stakeholder Interviews
Audience Research
Brand Story Copywriting
Goal Setting & Prioritization
Website Wireframing & User Stories
Custom Website, built on Drupal
Full Content Integration and Troubleshooting
“We offer wonderful programs at USMH, but in the past, we’ve struggled to show how the process works, especially for new students that don’t know USMH at all. Wimbly Stoke helped us clarify our message and make a beautiful and effective website.
- Erin Harman, Marketing Director of USMH