Milton Keynes College

A long-term partnership built on trust

Since 2017, we’ve worked closely with Milton Keynes College across a series of digital projects - from dedicated microsites and a virtual open day platform to a complete rebuild of their main website. This latest project saw us overhaul the entire website again in 2024 to bring it in line with a new, vibrant brand identity and deliver a best-in-class experience for students, staff, employers and the local community.

Approach

To build a high-performing platform that serves the needs of multiple audiences, streamlines internal processes, supports recruitment and engagement goals, and reflects the College’s bold new identity online.

Built for every audience

The College website serves a wide and varied group - school leavers, adult learners, apprentices, higher education students, the local community and employers. We worked hand-in-hand with the marketing team to identify the needs of each audience and craft a digital experience that adapts to them.

The site brings the College’s new brand to life online, using bold colours and audience-specific styling across key areas. We designed the structure to support this with focused landing pages and streamlined journeys that help users find relevant information quickly and easily.

We worked closely with the Government Digital Service during an in-depth accessibility review, ensuring the entire MK College site met WCAG guidelines and delivered an inclusive experience for every user.

Informed by Data

We worked closely with the College’s marketing team to interpret feedback from user testing, heatmaps and session recordings. The insights helped us shape clearer user journeys and make evidence-based decisions throughout the project.

Every pathway through the site was designed to feel intuitive. We simplified navigation, removed unnecessary steps and made sure key actions like course discovery, event sign-up and applications were always within easy reach.

Built to perform

The MK College platform brings together two critical strengths: the flexibility to support a fast-moving team, and the power to integrate with the complex systems behind the scenes.

Built on WordPress Full Site Editor, every part of the site is custom and fully adaptable. The internal team can create new pages, launch campaigns, and reshape content to fit whatever’s happening across the College - all without waiting on developers. With over 8,000 students and a packed calendar of events, deadlines and recruitment cycles, the platform had to keep pace.

And beneath the surface, it’s seriously impressive. We engineered bespoke integrations to connect the site to the wider digital ecosystem the College relies on every day:

• Live course data sync – real-time updates from ProSolution, including availability and rollovers
• Custom application and enrolment forms – structured submissions fed directly into the Management Information System (MIS)
• Secure online payments – with ecommerce system for short course bookings
• HR integration – job and apprenticeship listings pulled automatically from third-party systems
• HubSpot integration – powers lead capture, prospectus downloads, event signups and more
• Pathways integration – helps users understand career routes linked to specific courses
• Algolia-powered search – fast, intelligent site-wide search experience
• Multi-step Course finder – helps users narrow options by learner type, interests, and delivery type for faster, more relevant results.
• Google Ads and Analytics integration – campaign-ready with clear tracking and user insights
• Accessibility built-in – supported by best practice and UserWay integration

Our Solution

Colleges never stand still. New campaigns, courses, landing pages and open events run all year round. MK College needed a site that could keep pace - without dragging developers into the mix every time something changed.

At the heart of our solution is a fully bespoke WordPress build, using Full Site Editing and a library of over 40 custom Gutenberg blocks. It gives the team complete flexibility. Pages can be created in-house, styled quickly, and rolled out fast. No broken layouts, no clunky workarounds, and no need to touch a single line of code.

The platform adapts to its users too. Content is personalised based on learner type and device, helping people get to the right information faster.

And it’s built to scale. With thousands of pages and hundreds of thousands of visitors, the site runs smooth, stays reliable, and gives the team the tools to keep moving.

An Ongoing Collaboration

We’ve worked with MK College since 2017, and it’s been a privilege to help shape such a well-known and ambitious brand. Their marketing team is one of the hardest working we’ve come across, and we relish every challenge they throw our way.

The site is always evolving. New campaigns, new features, new ideas. We’re proud to keep pushing things forward together and honoured that the project was recognised with a Gold for Website Development at the national College Marketing Network’s FE First Awards

For us, this one’s special. It’s a true partnership and a flagship project we’re proud to call the jewel in our crown.