Discover how we redesigned the Linden Christian School website with a fresh new look and feel - and a streamlined approach to user experience.

THE CLIENT

Linden Christian School is an independent K-12 school of about 1,000 students located in Metric’s hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The school’s mission is to provide an excellent, Christ-centered education for students of all ages – focusing on developing the whole child, with academic, social, athletic, creative, and spiritual programming that is grounded in a consistent, relationship-focused environment.

THE CHALLENGE

Like many schools, Linden Christian had a website that covered the needs of an average user - but it was becoming outdated and hard to edit on the backend. A solution was needed that would allow the marketing team and anyone else to edit the back end without relying on a developer. 

The school approached Metric to redesign the current Linden Christian website, replacing the older design and creating a new foundation: an easily customizable CMS that would allow the team to have more flexibility over the content they post. The final site needed to play a role in recruitment by attracting and shepherding new families through to the information they need to take action, as well as serving as a communications hub for existing families and stakeholders who are part of the Linden Christian community.

THE STRATEGY

Through research, client interviews, and digging deep into existing website data, we discovered that what Linden Christian really needed was a website that was simpler, more user friendly, and more modern – while still maintaining the brand voice and quality that parents and users expect from the brand. 

For the Linden Christian website, the project was split into three distinct phases: 

1. A website planning and information architecture stage, where we could see what we had, what we could reuse from the old website, and what we needed to create.

2. A design and content phase, where our designers could work with the school to show how their information would be best displayed on the site. 

3. A programming phase, where the developers could build the site, then test it, implement tracking, and make sure ev erything was running smoothly before the launch. 

This approach to website development allows Metric (and our clients) to focus on one phase of the website at a time, making sure we get everything right in one phase before we move on to the next.

THE EXECUTION

Our next step was to develop and implement the website. The Linden Christian website was a large project with a lot of moving parts and unique customizations – including a families portal, an events calendar, a news section, and more. 

The look and feel of the website had to match the current brand visual identity, but we decided to add another, more cool-toned and modern color to contrast with the brand’s primary green and yellow. The resulting blue leaned slightly purple, adding a friendly and approachable feel to an elegant and sophisticated colour palette.

The same was true for the font choice. The serif font used for the headlines feels elegant and traditional while having modern characteristics that balance nicely with the visuals of the site. As a secondary font, the sans-serif added another layer of contrast with the headline, leaning more modern and approachable than would a serif.

We chose to conduct a photoshoot at the school so that the website could incorporate new, fresh photos throughout that depict real students in real classrooms. 

The header photos for the homepage were then edited so that some of the elements protruded beyond the curved top edge. In this way, the photos stand out from the rest of the website, making them look different and unexpected. This was also reflected in the curved edges of the images themselves. Long one-sided curves and rounded corners cement the approachable feel while still paying homage to the traditional feel with the serif font and elegant colour palette.

As a result, the website juxtaposes modern and traditional feelings, with elements connecting to create a more cohesive design. Modern and traditional, approachable yet professional, this website tells the story of a brand that recognizes its roots while making strides toward the future. 

In addition to being able to be edited by anyone without coding knowledge, this new website will run smoothly for years to come.

THE RESULTS

The new Linden Christian website launched in late 2022. This case study will be updated in 2023 when we are able to share the results of this work together.

See what the client is saying:

Our school's website had served us well for many years, but it was dated. Metric helped us rebuild our site from the ground up. The entire team was professional, responsive and had the breadth of skill to get the job done. We are so pleased with the results and feedback from our users tells us they are too. The new website has an entirely fresh, new look and feel and the new site map is much easier to navigate. Thank you to Dan and the team at Metric Marketing for bringing our vision to life.

Kristen Kroeker
Advancement Manager
Linden Christian School

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