Higher education web design · Chicago, IL

Higher education web design for Chicago colleges and universities

Chicago has a mix of public universities, private research institutions and community colleges, each with different accessibility obligations. We design and build sites that meet the strictest of them by default.

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Seattle, USA

Drupal Certified Partner
WCAG 2.2 AA on every template
Senior US based team
Fixed fee quotes for any budget

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Trusted by colleges and mission driven organizations

Short answer

Who designs higher education websites in Chicago?

DoodleWeb is a Seattle based web design and development company and a Drupal Certified Partner that designs, builds, migrates and maintains websites for colleges and universities in Chicago and across Illinois. Every build ships to WCAG 2.2 AA, meets Core Web Vitals targets on key templates and is quoted as a fixed fee for any budget.

Public universities in Chicago fall under the Illinois IITAA as well as ADA Title II. City Colleges of Chicago and private universities answer to the ADA and Section 504. We build to WCAG 2.2 AA, which covers the WCAG 2.1 AA requirement in every case.

Serving: Chicago and Evanston, Oak Park
Typical timeline: 6 to 16 weeks
Accessibility: WCAG 2.2 AA
Platforms: Drupal, WordPress, Webflow

What we fix

What Chicago campus web teams ask us to solve

Prospective students cannot find the right program

How we fix it. We build program finders filtered by level, format and interest, with each program page leading to request info, visit and apply.

Hundreds of editors and no shared standards

How we fix it. Role based publishing, reusable accessible components and recorded training keep every department on brand and compliant.

Accessibility issues return after every audit

How we fix it. We fix components, not pages, and add automated axe and Pa11y checks so regressions fail before they go live.

A legacy Drupal or custom CMS nobody wants to touch

How we fix it. Module by module audits, repeatable dry runs and URL parity checks move content to Drupal 11 or WordPress without losing search traffic.

Priorities for Chicago institutions

IITAA and WCAG 2.2 AA conformance with documented testing
Program and admissions pages for commuter and adult learners
Migrations from aging Drupal and custom CMS platforms

Case studies

Higher education work we can show you

Published scope from our case studies. Results depend on each institution, so we walk through what applies to you on a call.

Drupal 10 · 24 weeks

George Brown College

AODA and WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility audit and remediation across a Drupal 10 multi-faculty CMS serving 30,000+ students and 100+ editors.

WCAG issues closed: 412
Lighthouse a11y score: 74 → 98
Level A + AA conformance: 100%
Delivered: VPAT 2.5

Read the George Brown College case study

Drupal · 18 weeks

Trinity Western University

WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility audit and remediation on a cinematic Drupal recruitment site. 287 issues closed, Lighthouse a11y 71 to 97, VPAT delivered.

WCAG issues closed: 287
Lighthouse a11y score: 71 → 97
Videos captioned: 60+
Delivered: VPAT 2.5

Read the Trinity Western University case study

Comparison

Which platform fits your institution?

Platform comparison for colleges and universities
Platform	Best for	Governance	Editing
Drupal	Universities and large colleges with many departments	Multisite, granular roles, content moderation workflows	Structured, governed editing with Layout Builder
WordPress	Smaller colleges, schools and focused program sites	Roles and multisite available, lighter governance	Fast, familiar editing for small teams
Webflow	Admissions microsites and campaign sites	Limited roles, best for one marketing team	Visual editing, design controlled

Accessibility and compliance

The rules Chicago institutions work under

ADA Title II web rule for public colleges

The Department of Justice requires public entities, including public colleges, to meet WCAG 2.1 AA. Its April 20, 2026 interim final rule moved compliance to April 26, 2027 for entities serving 50,000 or more people and April 26, 2028 for smaller ones.

Source: ADA.gov: Title II web and mobile app rule, compliance dates updated April 20, 2026

Illinois IITAA covers public universities

The Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act requires state agencies and public universities to meet WCAG 2.1 AA under the IITAA 2.1 Standards, effective June 24, 2024. It does not directly apply to community colleges or private institutions, which still answer to the ADA and Section 504.

Source: Illinois DoIT: IITAA

WCAG 2.2 AA is our default

WCAG 2.2 is the current W3C recommendation and includes every WCAG 2.1 AA criterion, so building to it covers the federal and state standards above.

Source: W3C: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2

This is general information, not legal advice. Sources checked 2026-11-08.

Data we design around

Benchmarks that shape our builds

Google Core Web Vitals "good" thresholds we treat as the floor for admissions and program templates.
Metric	Good threshold
Largest Contentful Paint	2.5 seconds or less
Interaction to Next Paint	200 milliseconds or less
Cumulative Layout Shift	0.1 or less

Source: web.dev: Core Web Vitals thresholds

How we work

From first call to launch in 6 to 16 weeks

Step 1 · 1 to 3 weeks
Discovery
Stakeholder interviews, analytics review, content and accessibility audit, and a written scope with a fixed fee.
Step 2 · 2 to 5 weeks
Design
Information architecture, a reusable accessible component system and clickable prototypes reviewed with real users.
Step 3 · 3 to 8 weeks
Build
Development on Drupal, WordPress or Webflow, integrations, content migration and redirect mapping.
Step 4 · 1 to 2 weeks
Launch and train
Accessibility and performance testing, editor training, launch support and an optional care plan.

FAQ

Higher education web design in Chicago: questions, answered

Does the Illinois IITAA apply to our institution?

The IITAA applies to Illinois state agencies and public universities. It does not directly apply to community colleges or private universities, though the ADA and Section 504 still do. We build every site to WCAG 2.2 AA, which exceeds the IITAA 2.1 technical standard.

Do you work with Chicago teams on Central time?

Yes. Our team schedules meetings and launches on Central time hours and works remotely from Seattle.

How much does a higher education website cost in Chicago?

We work with any budget and do not publish one starting price. After a short discovery call we recommend tailored or templated options based on your page count, integrations, accessibility needs and timeline, and quote a fixed fee.

How long does a college or university website redesign take?

Most of our higher education projects run 6 to 16 weeks for a focused redesign and longer for multisite consolidation or large migrations. Published examples include a 24 week Drupal 10 accessibility program for George Brown College.

Should our college use Drupal or WordPress?

Drupal suits large institutions with many departments, complex permissions and multisite needs. WordPress suits smaller colleges and focused sites that need fast editing. We recommend after discovery and support both as a Drupal Certified Partner and WP Engine Advanced Partner.

When do public colleges have to meet the ADA Title II web rule?

Under the Department of Justice's April 20, 2026 interim final rule, public entities serving 50,000 or more people must meet WCAG 2.1 AA by April 26, 2027, and smaller entities by April 26, 2028. We build to WCAG 2.2 AA, which includes the 2.1 AA criteria.