From today (Tuesday 28 February) the University of Kent homepage and many of our most popular pages have new content and a new design.

What’s new or changed:

• online prospectuses and information for prospective students
• new Research, Study and Discover sections
• news centre
• module catalogue (which still works in the same way. There’s no change to how staff update it)
• the menu at the very top – the Kent bar. This has been live since January, and provides consistent navigation throughout the Kent website.

It’s the start of Kent’s digital transformation. More than giving the website a new look, this new approach aims to:

• make it easier for visitors to find what they need
• improve the experience of all our users
• strengthen Kent’s identity as a world-class research and teaching institution.

This new approach to content will gradually be rolled out to the whole Kent website. We’re using web analytics and admissions data to prioritise sections that have the greatest impact.

Tell us what you think
Please use the feedback link on the right hand side of the new pages, and help us keep improving. There might still be some disruption to the new pages today as the changes take effect.

How we got here
These improvements are based on extensive user research, user testing and consultation, including:

• website user analytics
• user research with plenty of student and staff involvement
• ‘beta’ site feedback. The new-look pages have been on our beta site for a while, accessible to anyone. Feedback from the beta has helped us refine the designs.

Work so far has included:

• simplifying the user journey and removing ineffective content
• restructuring and re-writing information for applicants
• re-writing our online prospectus course pages in a new, engaging style
• adding student profiles and videos to our course pages to help promote our programmes.

More to be done
We’ll continue to test and improve the Kent website. In the coming months we’ll start working with academic schools and departments to implement the new design and editorial style.

The work is a collaboration between Corporate Communications, Enrollment Management Services and Information Services.