New Rider website is launched after an 18 month process

By Aaliyah Patel

After a long and creative process, Rider University’s Marketing and Communications team launched the university’s brand new website for all students and faculty members, on Oct. 27.

In collaboration with 160over90, a full-service creative agency and KWALL, a creative web agency for higher education, this 18 month long process was implemented to rebuild and redesign features that would enhance the overall experience.

Alongside the process, a team of four undergraduate students and one graduate student were also instrumental in working to build the website.

Kristine Brown, associate vice president of university marketing and communications described the creative process behind building the new site from ground up.

“Everyone is always excited to see what a new web site is going to look like, and certainly the creative process was important to select colors, styles, photos and fonts but the architecture of the site, or the way it actually functions is just as important as the way it looks,” Brown said.

Rider’s previous website was outdated, which prevented transformations, which initiated the need to move to the modern web content management tool, Drupal 8.

“The web site is a marketing tool, and we view it as the ‘front door’ to the university for prospective students, families, alumni, donors and prospective employees, just to name a few. It is also an important resource for current students and employees. We needed to build a site that appealed to all of these audiences, while raising Rider’s profile and offering an exemplary user experience no matter who comes to rider.edu,” Brown said.

Aesha Shah, a junior computer science major, appreciated the ease of the new changes.

“I think it’s really cool, honestly I like it a lot. It’s easier to navigate now,” Shah said.

Key features on the new website include search functionality powered by Google, translating the content into different languages and tools such as Academic Program Finder, a method that students can use to find programs they would like to major in.