SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT
Westminster Schools
When Landon Rowe walked into his first day as Westminster’s new digital media manager, the clock was already ticking.
The school’s website redesign with Finalsite was well underway, but he hadn’t been part of the early planning. Now he was inheriting the project midstream, along with a five-year-old website that no longer represented Westminster’s evolving brand.
“I had zero experience in web design,” Landon admitted. “Photography and videography — that’s my passion. But building a website? SEO? Graphic design? I had to learn as I went.”
By some accounts, the state of Georgia has more than 800 private schools, and in the Atlanta-metro area, Westminster competes in one of the most saturated school markets in the country. Atlanta families have dozens of strong options, and the stakes for making a compelling first impression online couldn’t have been higher.
Complicating matters, Westminster’s communications team, normally six people strong, had been reduced to two during a crucial part of the redesign project.
At a Glance
Westminster Schools serves 1,880 students from Pre-First through grade 12 on a scenic 192-acre campus in Atlanta, Georgia. Known for academic excellence, vibrant student life, and deep community roots, Westminster competes in one of the most saturated independent school markets in the country.
Landon wasn’t alone, though. With the help of Finalsite Professional Services and client success managers, Landon had a dedicated support team at his back, helping Westminster navigate competing priorities, shifting teams, and a steep learning curve to launch a site that strengthened Westminster’s position in a crowded market.
In his own way, Landon would need to embody Westminster’s message of “Love. Challenge. Lead. Change.”
The Challenge
When Landon stepped into his role, the redesign process had already been set in motion. “I walked in mid-project,” he recalled. “The redesign had started before I arrived, so I didn’t have the benefit of shaping the initial vision, but I still had to bring it across the finish line.”
The 2017 site he inherited had been a strong site for its time—in fact, it had won multiple design awards shortly after it launched. “It was a really dynamic, great website,” Landon said. “But the way our school had changed, and the way the market in Atlanta had changed, meant it was time to tell our story in a new way.”
In Atlanta’s independent school scene, families have no shortage of options. “If you have a child and you’re trying to send them to private school, the options are endless,” Landon explained. “The challenge for us was to stand out, to lean into our brand and tell our story in a way that made it clear why Westminster was the right fit for the right families.”
On top of the competition, Landon faced the internal realities that many school communicators know too well: turnover, shifting priorities, and the push and pull between tradition and change.
“We wanted a site that could grow with us. Something that made it easier to share the moments, the achievements, and the people that make Westminster special.”
LANDON ROWE
DIGITAL MEDIA MANAGER
“Projects like this are never quick,” he said. “It’s not a couple of months and a few hours here and there…it’s a big lift. You’re talking about months of planning, revisions, and discussions. There’s always going to be dissonance — times where you, your boss, and your boss’s boss don’t initially agree. It takes time to work it out.”
The redesign was further complicated by changes in the communications team’s size and structure.
“When you have the expectations put on you that a seven- or eight-person team can accomplish, and you’re down to two, it makes it very hard to keep your head above water — much less do something like this,” Landon said.
Then there was the challenge of the school community having some long-standing attachments to certain brand elements, even if they no longer served the updated vision.
“How do you hold on to the things that make you who you are while also trying something new?” Landon asked. “Sometimes you have to let go of elements people are attached to, even if a lot of time and energy have gone into them. That’s hard.”
The redesign process was an exercise in persistence, diplomacy, and creative problem-solving, or as Landon put it: “In education, the school year always starts in August and ends in May. People come and go. That turnover can be kryptonite for a project like this. You have to keep moving forward even when the circumstances change.”
The Solution
Landon quickly realized the redesign wouldn’t be a simple “refresh.” It was a complete rethinking of how the school presented itself online — and it had to be done while honoring the school’s traditions. Finalsite’s Professional Services team became an essential partner in the project, offering expertise and knowledge about redesigns, marketing, and, importantly, the market.
From day one, Finalsite worked as an extension of Westminster’s own team, guiding Landon step-by-step through the redesign process, collaborating on a creative brief that detailed a roadmap of the school’s story, visual priorities, and content goals. The brand and web production guides served as a north star for the project, keeping everyone aligned on style and branding despite shifting team members and opinions.
“That was the secret sauce,” Landon recalled. “It gave us repeatable design elements and a clear plan for how to present content so that no matter who was creating a page, it looked like it belonged to Westminster.”
The mobile experience was also a priority. Landon thought through the high-traffic journeys, like admissions inquiries and event registrations, so they were quick, intuitive, and looked great on a phone. “The mobile version wasn’t an afterthought,” Landon said. “It’s a different experience entirely, and it’s intentional.”
For Landon, this structure and access to support were invaluable. “The team made it easy to learn as we went. Whether it was a quick question, like ‘I know this should be simple, but I can’t figure it out…’ or a big one, like, ‘We know where we are, but how do we get to where we want to be?’ they were always there with answers.”
Throughout the process, Professional Services helped Landon make tough calls, like letting go of outdated brand elements that no longer served the school’s story. They facilitated conversations with stakeholders, reframing changes not as departures from tradition but as evolutions that kept Westminster’s identity strong.
For example, integrating the school’s physical features into the site’s visual details. Westminster had recently completed major campus building projects, and the new web design incorporated some of those architectural elements, like the distinctive linear features found in the new buildings.
“They weren’t afraid to challenge us when something didn’t align with our goals,” Landon said. “They kept us focused on telling the right story—our story—in the most effective way possible.”
The Results
After months of planning, collaboration, and problem-solving, Westminster’s redesigned site launched as a transformation that was as much about authenticity as it was aesthetics.
“It felt like we were launching a rocket,” Landon remembered. “We all stood around our computer, hit refresh, and watched it go live. We should have had party poppers. It was that exciting to finally see it all come together.”
In the end, the redesign delivered a functional, strategic platform that supported Westminster’s communications, admissions, and marketing goals in new and different ways:
- A stronger brand. The new site communicates who Westminster is without relying on labels or explanations. “If you take away the headings and the logo, and you’ve spent any time with Westminster, you’ll still know it’s us,” Landon said. “That wasn’t true before.”
- Consistency across all departments. With the production guide and style standards in place, every page now carries a consistent look and feel.
- Mobile-first experiences. The site was intentionally designed for how families actually use it. High-traffic journeys like admissions inquiries, event registrations, and athletics schedules are streamlined for mobile. “The mobile experience isn’t just a smaller version of the homepage,” Landon noted. “It’s built for the way people scroll, search, and interact on their phones.”
- Empowered internal teams. With training from Finalsite, multiple departments can now confidently make updates without compromising design integrity. “We’re not the only ones touching the site,” Landon explained. “But we’ve set up procedures so that anyone making updates understands how to do it the right way.”
- A foundation for storytelling. The new design allows Westminster to tell its story with powerful visuals and authentic narratives. “We wanted a site that could grow with us,” Landon said. “Something that made it easier to share the moments, the achievements, and the people that make Westminster special.”
Westminster leaned into authentic storytelling and consistent branding to appeal to the right-fit families — a key advantage in Atlanta.
Perhaps most importantly, the launch created a renewed sense of pride in the school community. “It’s a reflection of who we are,” Landon added. “And when faculty, staff, parents, and alumni see it, they feel that sense of connection. That’s the real win.”
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