NONPROFIT WEBSITE REDESIGN

A social enterprise site built to scale

Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship is the most successful university-based accelerator in the world, and has helped 1,000+ social enterprises address global poverty and environmental protection. To continue to grow, Miller Center needed a new website that would better tell their story. As both an affiliate of Santa Clara University and a nonprofit, they’re uniquely challenged to engage multiple audiences; simplifying their message would be critical to their success. And, with a limited budget, they needed a flexible design strategy that would allow them to build out a majority of the content themselves.

  • Web Design
  • Content Strategy
  • UI/UX
  • Web Development
  • Worpdress CMS

Miller Center welcomed a critical eye to every detail of their site and were open to major reconstructions that put users first.

We helped Miller Center launch a new website that will communicate to a broader audience, strengthen their brand, and drive their mission for years to come. Above all, we put users in control with clear information pathways and practical design.

miller center responsive web design phone and desktop

Simplicity is the best strategy.

Information overload bogged down Miller Center’s previous site and made it extremely difficult to navigate. Though we were originally hired exclusively for design, it was impossible to tackle this project without first diving into content. We collaborated with Miller Center’s marketing team to rethink how they describe their programs, and leveraged design to create clear information pathways. With less on each page, a refined site map, and the ability to expand and collapse content blocks, key messages and CTAs could shine. In the end, we not only modernized the site’s design, but helped cut their page count by more than 60% and put their users in control.

miller center web design on laptop

Flexed, not fixed.

The most difficult part of our design strategy was giving Miller Center the flexibility and tools to build the majority of the site themselves. They would create all secondary pages through the CMS, so we prioritized a detailed styleguide and a suite of WordPress plugins to support the volume and complexity of their content. This was no easy feat; our team had to be incredibly resourceful in allocating design time to the most significant details and designed key landing pages to make the site feel custom, while also creating a robust system of tools and templates. Setting them up for success meant creating a site that was both well-designed and built to grow.

miller center web design homepage

Working with the Design in Mind team could not have been smoother. Our old website was severely outdated and no longer gave us the flexibility to scale. But you were able to bring our website up to par with our partners, create an engaging and elegant design to reflect our brand, and prioritize the experience for both our users and our back-end staff. Thank you for your expertise! We’d be happy to work with you again

Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, Santa Clara University
Ricardo Cortez
Director of Marketing