18 years of university website design and administration
Oakland City University
Web Designer & Administrator, Brand Lead, Social Media Coordinator
In 2008, I took the job of webmaster at Oakland City University. For the next 18 years, I built and managed the university’s entire web presence. That meant the main website, a family of microsites, the brand standards that held it all together, and the social strategy that carried it across campus.
It was the longest-running design project of my life. And it shaped how I build every website today.
One Brand & Hundreds of Opinions
The biggest challenge with university websites is that they have to serve everyone at once. That's everyone from prospective students to alumni and donors.
Admissions wants applications. Athletics wants scores and schedules. Alumni relations wants reunion sign-ups. Every department wants its page to look “just a little bit different.” And every one of those requests is completely reasonable.
When you put them all together, you run the risk of having a website that looks like your junk drawer. That meant my job wasn’t just to build pages, it was to keep OCU looking, sounding, and working like one university, no matter who was asking or what they needed.
Main University Website
This was the front door. Its main job was recruitment, so it had to make applying, visiting, requesting info, and giving easy to find. At the same time, it had to hold program pages, news, and resources for everyone already on campus. That's a lot to make into one cohesive website.
A Family of Microsites
Some audiences, like the alumni association and athletics department, needed a space of their own. Microsites let them have one, with their own personality, while still looking like part of the whole.
Cross-campus brand standards
Colors, logos, typography, and photo style all lived in one set of rules. Then came the fun part... getting every department to actually use them. (Diplomacy is an underrated design skill.)
Campus-wide social strategy
The website didn’t live in a bubble. I also ran social strategy across campus, so the brand felt consistent from Facebook to the homepage.
Project Spotlight
Alumni Microsite
The alumni microsite is one of my favorite examples of university website design done with a personal touch.
The main site had to sell. It carried FAFSA banners, program tiles, and a busy utility bar full of Apply, Visit, and Request Info links. That’s perfect for a high school senior. Alumni, however, don’t need to be recruited. They need a reason to feel at home again.
The alumni site kept the resemblance but changed the tone:
- Same roots. The navy-and-white palette and crest-style shield logo made it instantly recognizable as OCU.
- A warmer welcome. A single large photo of the historic brick tower building sat beside an elegant script “Welcome Alumni!” headline.
- Simpler navigation. Just four links, instead of the main site’s crowded top bar.
- A real voice. The homepage opened with a signed welcome letter from the Alumni Board President. It read like a note from a friend, not a brochure.
- Tidy news. A clean, evenly spaced four-card grid kept updates easy to scan.
launch is just the beginning
Most designers launch a site and move on. I got to live with mine for nearly two decades. As a result, I learned a few things you can’t pick up in a single project:
- Launch day is the starting line. A website needs updates, care, and someone paying attention long after it goes live.
- Consistency is what builds trust. When every page looks like it belongs, visitors believe the whole organization has its act together.
- Other people will update it. So I build sites that staff can edit without breaking anything.
- Design and tech have to work together. Pretty doesn’t matter if it’s slow, broken, or impossible to find.
Now I bring that same long-haul mindset to small businesses. Your website might be a lot smaller than a university’s. But it deserves the same care.
how the story ends (for now)
In May 2026, Oakland City University closed its doors. The website I spent 18 years building is part of that story too.
I still miss it. I miss the people, the rhythm of the academic year, and knowing every corner of that site by heart. But the skills, the standards, and the stubborn attention to detail? Those came with me. Today, they go into every brand and website I build at Andrea Turner Design.
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© Andrea Turner Design 2008-
