Mapping out an improved experience for prospective students

In collaboration with York University, Evolving Web redesigned yorku.ca’s homepage, updated the main navigation, and provided recommendations for improving user experience and content across the University’s digital ecosystem. This work was grounded in a detailed discovery process, including user journey mapping that traced the ideal enrollment experience for prospective students.

By applying engaging storytelling and a mobile-first approach, we improved information architecture, optimized existing components, and enhanced key recruitment touchpoints—helping York connect more effectively with prospective students.

York University is one of Canada’s largest universities, serving a diverse student body of more than 55,000 domestic and international students. With three campuses, York is known for its wide range of programs, research excellence, and commitment to social justice and innovation.

In 2020, York U completed a major website refresh guided by its first pan-university digital strategy. That project advanced the university’s mandate to achieve accessibility compliance, and provided more consistent functionality and visual design across websites.

The primary goal of this project was to contribute directly to York’s student recruitment efforts by aligning the digital experience with the expectations of prospective students and their parents. At the same time, the redesign aimed to strengthen York’s brand presence in a highly competitive landscape by highlighting its programs, research impact, and institutional differentiators. Another important objective was to align with content governance efforts at the university, to reduce content duplication while ensuring consistency in how York presents itself online.

Changing user behaviors and heightened competition in the higher education space required enhancement to the University’s homepage, to help York differentiate itself. The York ecosystem includes many websites, so improvements require mapping the user journey across websites, and making recommendations that impact not just the university’s homepage, but many of its important domains and faculty websites. Work continues to engage staff across campus to roll out the improvements to the user experience in a holistic way.

To achieve the goals of an improved enrollment journey, Evolving Web collaborated with York’s cross-functional working group to deliver an evidence-based redesign. Our work combined strategy, design, and development to create a modern, user-focused homepage and supporting web ecosystem.

• Mapping out ideal user journeys for prospective students, parents, and international audiences.
• Auditing York’s current ecosystem to assess recruitment touchpoints.
• Conducting facilitated discussions with domestic and international students to identify pain points and opportunities, and collecting feedback through questionnaires and stakeholder interviews.
• Benchmarking peer institutions.
• Designing a more engaging, audience-focused homepage within York’s existing design system.
• Updating the main navigation to guide prospective students more effectively.
• Recommending updates to key sub-sites and faculty sites to improve cross-site journeys.
• Selecting updated imagery and video to highlight York’s brand differentiators and make the University more personable.
• WordPress development to implement updated designs and build custom components.
• Extending York’s component library to support more flexible and engaging content.
• Testing for AODA compliance and accessibility best practices of new content and components.
• Supporting the University’s team in relaunching the Yorku.ca homepage.

The new homepage went live in time for York’s recruitment cycle, creating a more intuitive and engaging entry point for prospective students. Staff also received a roadmap of UX and content recommendations to support continuous improvements across York’s web ecosystem.

Since 2020, Evolving Web has built a trusted, long-term relationship with York University. As the University’s partner for both Drupal and WordPress, we’ve supported projects that enhance recruitment, improve accessibility, and strengthen content governance.

This work has included:

• Extending York’s component library and design system.
• Custom Drupal and WordPress development.
• Integrations with third-party platforms such as Modern Campus.
• Student interviews and usability testing.
• Accessibility training for staff across campus.

Notable projects include: Current Students and Future Students websites, Markham Campus, School of Continuing Studies, Faculty of Health, and the School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design.