Case Study

Challenge

Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC), a Charles Kennedy Equity Award recipient, is recognized for its commitment to advancing equity—removing barriers, promoting justice, and supporting student success, particularly for low-income students and students of color. But its website no longer reflected that mission. The college needed a refreshed digital presence that could serve a wide range of stakeholders, from prospective students and their families to faculty, staff, and community partners.

Redesigning a site for an institution with this level of impact required more than a standard process. To ensure the new website captured MHCC’s values and met diverse needs, MAC expanded its discovery work to include additional interviews and a half-day brand messaging workshop. These tools helped shape a clear positioning statement and unified core messaging.

MAC Method

We began with a comprehensive audit of MHCC’s website, reviewing accessibility, analytics, content quality, and competitor benchmarks to establish best practices in information architecture and functionality. Our research included a large-scale user survey of staff, students, and community members, along with focus groups and student testing, to pinpoint issues with content organization and wayfinding.

With this insight, our team redesigned the UX/UI, built responsive HTML/CSS/JavaScript templates, and partnered with MHCC’s technical staff to integrate the new components into their CMS. We also trained non-technical staff in effective web writing, supported content migration, and provided copyediting assistance.

To ensure long-term success, we delivered a content style guide and digital communication tools to keep future messaging consistent and on-brand.

Solution

In the end, communication around complex topics such as the application process were simplified to just a few pages. We empowered MHCC to better tell their story by building a fresh new website that streamlines access to pages and content key audiences need to better engage with the college. Deliverables included a new website, branded PDF templates, social media content, and a key messaging guide for future use.

Impact

MAC helped MHCC deliver a completely new-and-improved online experience for prospective and current students that gives them a reason to engage with — and continue to stay connected to — the greater MHCC community.