Delta College
Overview.
Delta College serves a diverse community in California's Central Valley, where education is the primary path to economic mobility. The college offers extensive degree programs and support services, but the sheer volume of choices created a complex environment for prospective students. Navigating hundreds of options without a clear structure often led to confusion rather than enrollment.
Delta College partnered with ImageX to reorganize their digital presence using the California Guided Pathways framework. We helped shift the focus from administrative departments to clear “Interest Areas” that speak directly to student goals.
The goal was simple: ensure every "Mustang" can find their path, access vital support services, and move confidently toward a career.
What They Needed.
Simplifying a Complex Catalog
Delta College offers hundreds of degrees and certificates, but the sheer volume of choices created a problem. Prospective students didn't know where to start, so they often just picked the first available option.
The site relied on internal academic language that didn't make sense to high school graduates or first-generation students. A student interested in "helping people" wouldn't know to look under "Social Sciences."
The college needed a way to translate their administrative departments into clear categories that matched student goals, ensuring users didn't get lost before they even began.
Making "Invisible" Resources Visible
For many of Delta College's students, success depends on more than just academics. Basic needs like food pantries, transportation, and childcare are critical for their ability to stay in school. On the previous site, these vital services were buried deep in the navigation or hidden under specific faculty pages.
The college needed to elevate these resources so students could immediately find support for:
- Food pantries and nutritional assistance.
- Transportation and transit planning.
- Childcare and health centers.
- Financial aid and tuition support.
Defining a Unified Brand Voice
Delta College has a supportive campus culture, and they wanted their branding and messaging to reflect that spirit. The college wanted to move beyond academic descriptions to highlight the real value they offer students.
They needed a communication strategy that aligned their public image with their actual campus experience. The goal was to create a consistent, welcoming voice that would instill pride in the "Mustang" community.
A Partner to Navigate Internal Pressure
The internal team at Delta College was under significant pressure. They faced tight deadlines and complex stakeholder needs. Instead of a vendor who simply wrote code, they needed a strategic partner to guide them through the process.
They looked for an agency that could provide a "white glove" level of service to manage the internal politics and build consensus among faculty, staff, and students.
How We Helped.
Collaborative On-Site Discovery
This project required a high-touch approach to align the many stakeholders involved. Strategy leads flew to the campus for intensive discovery workshops, prioritizing face-to-face collaboration over standard remote meetings.
Administrators, faculty, and current students gathered in the same room to map out the college’s ecosystem. Facilitating these face-to-face discussions broke down departmental silos and built the necessary internal consensus.
This "white glove" service provided stability and ensured the project moved forward with full team alignment.
Implementing Guided Pathways & Intelligent Discovery
The website’s navigation now follows the California Guided Pathways framework to prioritize student needs over institutional hierarchy. Previously, students faced internal academic divisions like "Arts, Humanities, and Multimedia," which often led to dead ends for undecided applicants.
Seven clear “Interest Areas” replaced these administrative silos to act as intuitive entry points. A student interested in "Agriculture" or "Science" can now dive immediately into those specific worlds without needing to know which department administers them.
Powering this structure is a sophisticated Program Finder that acts as an academic GPS. Students who aren't sure of their path can filter by Interests ("I like helping people") or Skills ("I am good with numbers") to uncover programs that match their natural strengths.
Once a program is selected, the "end" of the journey takes priority: salary data and career outlooks appear at the top of every page to immediately demonstrate the value of an education at Delta College.
Revitalizing the "Mustang" Identity
The college has a powerful mascot in the Mustang, but they needed it to address a reputation challenge. There was a contrast between its challenging surrounding neighborhood and its safe, supportive campus. They needed a narrative strong enough to bridge that gap and change local perception.
We helped them transform the Mustang into a storytelling vehicle. Content now centers on Courage and Pride, two themes that directly mirror the resilience of the student body. Key landing pages were rewritten to speak directly to students, replacing administrative language with a voice that is welcoming and distinctly "Mustang".
This work established a scalable messaging framework rather than just a one-time refresh. Defining this distinct "Mustang" voice provided the internal team with a clear pattern to follow for all future content creation.
Words from the client.
“We are grateful to have ImageX as partners in this launch, and the site truly reflects how they listened to us in the Discovery on-site throughout the project journey together, all the way to launch.”
Alex Breitler, Marketing Director
The Results.
Solving "Choice Paralysis"
Prospective students used to face a wall of options when visiting the site. With over 100 programs listed alphabetically, many applicants simply picked the first item on the list because they didn't know where to start .
That confusion is gone. The new architecture acts as a helpful guide rather than a complex catalog. Students now navigate the site based on who they are:
- Interests: Exploring categories like "Business" or "Health".
- Skills: Matching their natural talents to potential careers.
This clarity ensures that the digital experience acts as a gateway for learners rather than a barrier.
Centralizing Student Support
Success for a first-generation student often depends on factors outside the classroom. Essential services like food pantries, transportation assistance, and childcare used to be buried deep inside specific faculty pages .
A new Student Services Directory brings these resources to the surface. It acknowledges a simple truth: students need to secure their basic needs before they can focus on their grades .
Enabling Internal Autonomy
Delta College's internal team gained a sustainable way to manage their brand. The project delivered a messaging framework that allows staff to write their own content confidently.
We established a clear "pattern" on key landing pages that serves as a guide for the future. Faculty can now launch new program descriptions that sound welcoming and supportive without needing external help.
The organization has regained ownership of its voice.
A Continued Strategic Partnership
This initiative took place in a high-pressure environment with tight deadlines. The internal team needed stability to reach the finish line.
Our "white glove" approach built a deep level of trust during the discovery and execution phases. Delta College validated that trust by signing a long-term maintenance agreement immediately after launch to ensure they have a partner for the road ahead.
The college signed a long-term maintenance agreement following the launch to ensure they continue to have a strategic partner for the future.
