The RCC Website Redesign project, which began in spring 2025, is well underway and moving forward on schedule and on budget, with a planned launch by the end of June 2026.
At its core, RCC’s website is the college’s front door for prospective and current students. It is not the full blueprint of everything we do — but it is often the first place students go to decide whether RCC is the right fit and how to take their next step. This project is about improving that front-door experience — making it easier to find information, understand program options and move confidently toward enrollment.
Where We Are in the Process
The project has completed two major phases:
- Phase 1: Discovery
- Phase 2: Planning & Design
We are now in Phase 3: Site Development and Content Migration, the most hands-on and time-intensive phase of the project for the Marketing & Communications team. All hands on deck!
While some work happened behind the scenes, the redesign has not been developed in isolation. During Phase 1, the process included:
- An online survey distributed to key audiences, including students, faculty and staff.
- Interviews, focus groups and working sessions with internal and external stakeholders.
- A 12-month website analytics audit.
- A comprehensive audit of the current site’s content, navigation, accessibility and usability.
Student voices and user feedback have been part of the process from the beginning, and that input directly informed the structure and priorities of the new site.
Why the Website is Changing
One way a colleague recently described our current website really resonated: a field of blackberries. There’s a lot of valuable information there, but it can be hard for students to know where to start, how things connect or what to do next.
A recent content crawl identified more than 4,000 indexed pages, PDFs and other content assets on the current site. Through the redesign process, we are intentionally consolidating and streamlining that content to create a clearer, more manageable structure of far fewer pages.
This reduction is not about removing important information. It’s about reducing duplication, outdated material and unnecessary complexity so students can more easily answer the questions they come to the site with:
- Do you have my program?
- What is it going to cost?
- How long will it take?
- What career outcomes will it lead to?
The new structure is intentionally more program-focused, aligning with Guided Pathways and reflecting the direction many community colleges have taken to improve clarity and program discovery. If it’s helpful to see how this looks elsewhere, examples include Portland Community College, Edmonds College and Pikes Peak State College.
What’s Being Reviewed Now
At this point in the project, the overall site structure and information architecture are set, based on Discovery research and user feedback.
What faculty and staff subject matter experts are reviewing now is draft program content — the text that will populate program pages — not finalized page designs.
In some cases, you may see page mockups shared in tools like Figma. These are provided to give context and help visualize how content may appear, not to suggest that layout or structural decisions are still in flux.
We are now full throttle in content development, preparing materials for migration into the new content management system. Phase 3 includes content migration, development and quality assurance testing to ensure accessibility and WCAG compliance.
How Faculty & Staff Are Involved
Marketing & Communications is doing the heavy lifting — rewriting, editing and formatting content — but we rely on program experts to ensure the information is accurate, clear and complete.
If and when you hear from us, we ask that you:
- Review the drafted content.
- Share corrections or clarifications as needed.
- Approve the content within a couple of business days.
We are working on a tight timeline to keep the project on track for a June 2026 launch, and timely feedback makes a meaningful difference.
Getting Used to Something New
We recognize that change — especially to something as familiar as the website — can feel challenging. The redesigned site may feel different at first. That’s intentional.
The goal is not simply to make the site look better. It’s to make it clearer, more accessible and more student-focused — especially for prospective students who may not yet understand RCC’s internal structure.
Looking Ahead
The redesigned website will reflect RCC’s updated brand while strengthening its role as a clear, welcoming and effective front door for students.
More updates will be shared as the project continues. Thank you for your partnership and thoughtful input as we work toward a website that better serves our students and our community.
For questions, contact Director of Marketing & Communications/PIO Kelly Gonzales via email or Teams.