Case Study

St. Norbert College

Celebrating the individuality of the world’s only Norbertine college

Overview

Rooted in Catholic, Norbertine, and liberal arts traditions, St. Norbert College is a nationally ranked institution known for its close-knit community and emphasis on ethical leadership and service. Spark was proud to partner with this values-driven institution to help bring its unique mission and beautiful campus to life online.

Services

Stakeholder interviews
Focus group moderation
Taxonomy testing & design
UX/UI design
Copywriting
Front-end development
Content migration
Holistic QA

Technologies

Optimal Workshop
Figma
Drupal

Timeframe

12 months

Visit

- snc.edu

Challenge

Capturing what makes SNC different

Everyone agreed: once you visit St. Norbert, you get it. But the website wasn’t capturing that on-campus energy, or what makes the college experience truly transformative. The site needed to convey SNC’s radically supportive culture, holistic student development, and ideal location more effectively. It also had to address affordability concerns and improve usability to help prospective students see the full value of an SNC education before they ever set foot on campus.

Process

Immersing in mission and tradition

As with every project, we began by listening—visiting campus, interviewing faculty and staff, and speaking with students to understand the whole St. Norbert experience. However, this work also required a deeper examination of the college’s Catholic, Norbertine roots to ensure that the site reflected its mission and spiritual foundation. The insights gathered guided our visual, content, and UX decisions, all of which were tested and refined through an iterative process.

Finding the best path forward – testing two very different navigation styles to see which felt right for visitors.

Listening to every voice – sitting down with faculty and staff to hear their hopes for the new site.

Soaking in the spirit of campus – walking the grounds, exploring traditions, and uncovering the stories that make St. Norbert unique.

Solution

Ever ancient, ever new

To reflect St. Norbert’s deep-rooted traditions and vibrant student life, Spark delivered a complete site redesign that brings its Norbertine identity to the forefront. The design strikes a balance between SNC’s timeless values and a modern edge, pairing classic serif typography with bold sans-serif fonts seen throughout campus, and integrating dynamic, TikTok-style student testimonial and content modules. The result is a flexible, mobile-first experience that feels both grounded and forward-looking, just like SNC.