For millions of people each year, the University of Washington homepage is a digital front door to the UW.
Some arrive looking for information about attending or applying. Others need to log into MyUW, the University’s online portal for students, faculty and staff. Visitors may be looking for the latest research discovery, searching for a resource, seeking care at UW Medicine or simply landing on the page through a search engine. Serving such a broad mix of audiences meant the redesign had to go well beyond a visual update.
The new UW homepage, launching on Sept. 30, is the result of nearly two years of work that began with a review of user behavior, analytics and the existing homepage experience. That work grew into a broader effort spanning research, strategy, design and development to rethink how the site can better serve its audiences, tell the UW story and evolve alongside the institution.
“The University of Washington’s homepage is more than a website. It is an expression of our public mission, our academic offerings and the impact our students, faculty and staff are making every day,” said UW President Robert J. Jones. “This redesign gives us a stronger way to reflect the excellence, energy and impact of the UW.”
It has been more than a decade since the University’s homepage has undergone a major transformation of this scale, and the project began with research rather than design.
The University Marketing & Communications team examined a full year of homepage analytics, surveyed users, studied peer university websites and evaluated the existing experience to understand what was working and where there were opportunities to improve. The volume and breadth of usage alone makes those decisions consequential. Over the year studied, the homepage recorded more than 2.7 million users across 4 million sessions.
Input extended well beyond the analytics. In the early stages of the project, hundreds of current and prospective students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and others were invited to share what they expected from a new UW homepage and what information and experiences mattered most to them. Opportunities to participate were shared through channels including the Husky Pawket Guide — a student-focused email newsletter — and UW Insider — an internal newsletter for faculty and staff — as well as public UW social media platforms, including LinkedIn and Instagram. Using both internal and public-facing channels helped gather perspectives from people currently closely connected to the UW as well as prospective students, parents, alumni and others outside the University.
This research revealed clear patterns in how people use the homepage. Search overwhelmingly dominated user activity, while resources such as MyUW, admissions and academic information were among the most frequent destinations. Survey feedback also showed that people wanted the homepage to highlight University news and achievements, student stories, research and innovation, and important information about financial aid and affordability.
Accessibility was a core consideration from the beginning the project. UW accessibility standards and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), an international standard for making web content more accessible to people with disabilities, informed decisions about video controls, navigation, headings, image descriptions, links and other interactive elements.
As the design developed, early previews were shared with, and input invited from, a broad cross section of the University community, including the president’s council and provost’s council; the Board of Regents; the Faculty Senate Executive Committee; student government leaders from our Bothell, Seattle and Tacoma campuses; and partners representing admissions, alumni engagement, philanthropy, research, UW Medicine, UW Athletics, UW Bothell, UW Tacoma and other areas. Those conversations helped surface different needs, test assumptions and refine the direction before launch.
From a static page to a flexible system
The new homepage was designed as a modular system, making it easier to update and adapt as priorities, seasons and major moments change.
That thinking shaped nearly every element of the new experience.
Search is more visible. Navigation has been simplified around the destinations people use most. MyUW has greater prominence. News and events have separate and distinct sections. Statistics and rankings can become clickable pathways into deeper stories about the UW’s impact.
New, adaptable spaces also allow the University to respond to the rhythm of the year — from admissions and commencement to cherry blossom season — and to highlight major research discoveries, significant University announcements or even an unexpected moment of Husky pride.
The result is a homepage that provides more flexibility to update content without redesigning the page itself.
One of the most visible changes is the new hero section at the top of the homepage. The hero section uses short-form video to create a stronger sense of UW identity and place, giving visitors an immediate visual sense of the University and the people, settings and experiences that make the UW distinctive.
As the design developed and moved into production, early partners were brought back into the process to review the evolving direction, respond to previews and help refine how the homepage could support different needs across the University. That input further informed both the design and the approach to keeping individual homepage components updated after launch.
“This was an opportunity to rethink one of the University’s most visible spaces,” said Jack Martin, vice president for marketing and communications. “The goal is to create something that feels unmistakably UW, while giving us more flexibility to respond to major moments, elevate important priorities and better reflect the breadth of the University.”
Building for what comes next
Launching the page isn’t intended to be the end of the redesign.
The new homepage was built to support ongoing testing and refinement, giving the team more ways to understand what people use, what they engage with and where the experience can improve.
Future possibilities include A/B testing and more personalized experiences tailored to audience needs.
The redesign, then, is not only about what the homepage looks like in September 2026. It creates a framework the UW can continue to shape over time, based on how people actually use it. The redesign is an expression of our commitment to making the UW’s web presence a truly useful resource for our many audiences and the state of Washington.
Share your feedback
The new homepage will continue to be evaluated and refined after launch. Visitors are invited to share feedback about their experience with the redesigned site through this survey.