KUMC Site Redesign

As part of our efforts to create and maintain a world-class web presence, on April 4th the University of Kansas Medical Center's website will be updated with a new design.

Why the redesign?

• The University of Kansas undergoes a visual identity update across all media on a regular cycle. This website redesign falls in line with the most recent branding update. You can view KU-Lawrence's new website for examples.
• We want to highlight our university's core missions, improve our marketing on the homepage, and remove terminology that's specific to our campus and wouldn't be easily understood by external audiences coming to our page to learn more about us.
• The "constituent pages" - those pages one click away from the home page that focus on a particular audience such as students, staff, and faculty - have been revised to include more timely news, events, and resources that are particular to those constituents' needs on campus. To get your news item featured, contact Carrie Brown in Communications.
• Taking advantage of recent improvements in web browsers, the site uses what's known as a 'responsive design,' responding to the size and resolution of the screen it's displayed on. Now the site will adapt to whatever device you're using, whether it's a large desktop monitor, a tablet or a mobile phone. Find out more about responsive design.

Where did my favorite link go?

As part of every redesign, we evaluate all the links to find a balance in making it easiest to find the most relevant resources. The site's new organization is based on input during the past year from staff, faculty, researchers, and students, while incorporating the latest best practices for how users navigate websites.

Any reorganization of a website can cause some immediate frustration but generally people grow accustomed to it. If you really can't find something you used, contact us.

New to the design is the "Quick Links" menu in the top right corner of every site. This menu links to the most commonly used services by internal audiences on campus and is where resources unique to KUMC (ie, those things like our course management system and email that aren't of interest to those outside our community) reside.

How does this affect my department site?

On February 20, a brown bag session was held with departmental website editors who are currently using the web content management system (CMS) to discuss what the design means to their sites. A recording of this presesentation is available.

If your website isn't currently using the CMS, it will not be affected by the new design; it will only affect those sites that are being managed from within the CMS. To find out how to get your site into the CMS, contact Jameson Watkins.