Pixels, code,
and empathy
At NewCity, we make digital more human — one website at a time. We take the time to know our clients, so we can develop better solutions to help them achieve their goals.
NewCity is a nationally recognized digital agency with over 3 decades of experience partnering with clients to create and grow their websites, applications, and all the ways they connect with people online. We put people before pixels – designing for both the end users and the people who support the experience behind the scenes (this is usually called Human-Centered Design).
We serve many types of clients, but we’re most well-known for higher ed. We’re deeply invested in higher education and higher ed-adjacent areas like academic health, public health, research, arts and culture. We’ve always had education as a common thread in our portfolio, but we started to truly specialize in higher ed around 2006. Almost half our team have worked in higher ed before coming to NewCity. We’re very adept at working within the complex stakeholder dynamics common to higher ed and other government or non-profit entities.
NewCity is an approved vendor for many institutions and systems which can streamline the process to start a new engagement.
What does NewCity actually do?
Organizations usually partner with us for one of these four kinds of projects:
Full Digital Transformation
NewCity has every discipline in-house that is needed to plan, design and build all the things that make up the public-facing digital experience for large enterprises like colleges and universities. This includes:
- Research-informed information architecture and content strategy
- Responsive and accessible design systems, building on an existing brand platform or exploring new directions for a brand
- Experience with all the most used CMSes in higher ed
- Establishing scalable hosting infrastructure and development operations
- Governance for large or small, decentralized or centralized web teams
- Training curriculum and how-to guidance for site owners and editors, building communities of practice
- Measuring performance and outcomes through unified dashboards
- Improving existing information architecture
- Design and component library expansions
- Content strategy, copywriting, and editing
- Accessibility testing and remediation
- Performance testing and enhancements
- Training in writing, CMS management, and accessibility
Examples of full digital transformation:
Unit Sites Within a Larger Organization
These are websites for some part of an institution that usually rely on existing design systems and CMS platforms. This could be a platform we built as part of the first type of project, or a platform someone else created.
- University of Tennessee, Knoxville College of Social Work – created using the WordPress-based UTK Web Design System also developed by NewCity
- Rutgers School of Engineering – created using the Drupal-based Rutgers Core Component Library developed previously by Rutgers
Unit sites usually emphasize research, information architecture and content strategy over design and development. But there are situations where we need to extend an existing design system with new patterns to support particular needs.
The site we developed for Rutgers University Libraries is a good example of this. We relied on the Rutgers Core Component Library, but had to extend it with new layout patterns specifically for library users.
Enrollment Strategy & Services
In 2022 we brought on a seasoned enrollment leader to help us build a true enrollment perspective into all our digital work. Enrollment and web leaders have lived on separate islands for too long. They speak different languages, follow different rhythms, measure different outcomes. The result is disconnected digital experiences, leaving students and parents with mixed signals and confusing paths.
We’re on a mission to bring these worlds together, helping our clients to unify their digital strategy. Our Seven Pillars of Digital Strategy for Higher Ed series is a road map for this mission.
Today our enrollment work encompasses overall strategy, content strategy for admissions and financial aid, communications plans, funnel optimization, and design/development for bringing enrollment digital communications into line with your brand.
Recent examples of this include:
- Usability testing and content overhaul for OSU Undergraduate Admissions
- Our work to develop strategy, content and designs for CalArts’ prospective graduate student communication flows
- Designing and optimizing the Slate portal experience for Radford University
Targeted Strategies and Improvements
Clients ask us to focus on specific areas of an existing website to improve experience and outcomes. Examples include things like UX and content audits, SEO, analytics setup, conversion optimization, content overhauls, and performance optimization. And of course training! We love teaching other teams to do the things we do.
Examples of this targeted work include
- Usability testing and content overhaul for OSU Undergraduate Admissions
- User research, analytics setup leading to IA and content improvements for Creighton University
- Doane University SEO Audit and Strategy
Ongoing Services & Support
Most of our projects lead to an ongoing partnership to support the continued success of our clients’ digital presence. This ranges from infrastructure maintenance to analytics to content development.
Ongoing Services & Support
Most of our projects lead to an ongoing partnership to support the continued success of our clients’ digital presence. This ranges from infrastructure maintenance to analytics to content development.
Partners & Technology
Our commitment to collaboration extends beyond our clients, to joint ventures with some of the most innovative companies in digital technology.
We're GSA certified!
Got a government project that can’t wait for a lengthy procurement? NewCity is already certified by the General Services Administration.
