Centro de Patrimonio Cultural UC
Institutional website redesign and content architecture
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We redesigned the Centro de Patrimonio Cultural UC website, migrating it from Joomla and creating a clearer content architecture aligned with Kit Digital UC.
- 5manageable content types
- 12featured research clusters
- Sep. 2023website launched
The challenge
The Centro de Patrimonio Cultural UC website brought together years of news, research, initiatives, publications, activities, and services. Its previous Joomla platform, however, made it increasingly difficult to grow the archive, manage editorial work, and optimize content for new audiences.
The project could not be reduced to a visual refresh. Valuable historical information had to be migrated, the site architecture rebuilt, and clear journeys created for students, researchers, institutions, and the general public.
The new experience also had to meet the requirements of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile digital ecosystem. It needed to apply Kit Digital UC and pass design, development, and security reviews before launch.
The challenge focused on four goals:
- Migrate relevant content without losing its context or documentary value.
- Reorganize information to improve navigation and discovery.
- Create a manageable platform for a wide range of academic and heritage content.
- Build a responsive interface aligned with UC identity and digital standards.
What we did
Architecture before interface
We began by organizing the editorial ecosystem. Content was grouped into five manageable families: research clusters, initiatives, education, services, and publications. This structure separated distinct types of information, established hierarchy, and created more predictable navigation paths.
Research as an entry point
The research clusters connect the Center's interdisciplinary work and needed greater visibility. We designed prominent entry points using cards and icons, allowing each research area to be recognized and explored from the home page without relying on extensive menus.
A visual system within Kit Digital UC
The interface applies the university's institutional components and standards while giving the Center its own composition: flexible grids, editorial cards, typographic hierarchy, and color accents that distinguish news, initiatives, publications, and services.
Migration and development in parallel
The schedule required curation, migration, design, and development to move forward at the same time. Shared editorial criteria standardized the content and maintained consistency across templates, while technical reviews with the university's IT and digital teams validated the implementation.
An experience designed to grow
The outcome is a responsive, manageable institutional website. Its architecture supports new content without rebuilding the navigation and provides a clearer semantic foundation for people and search engines to understand the relationships between research, initiatives, services, and publications.
Results
The new website was approved by the university teams responsible for design and technology and launched in September 2023.
The migration replaced a Joomla platform that constrained the project's evolution with a clearer, safer, and more manageable experience. The Center gained a structure that brings news, events, initiatives, services, publications, and research clusters into one editorial system.
For visitors, the redesign reduced the complexity of exploring a broad heritage archive. For the internal team, it delivered templates and content types that support more consistent maintenance and growth.
The project showed that an institutional website redesign creates more value when content architecture, user experience, migration, and development are treated as one connected problem.
Gallery
A shared visual architecture organizes news, research, initiatives, publications, and team content. 
Reusable templates present different types of institutional content through a consistent hierarchy. 
The responsive experience keeps the institutional identity and primary entry points visible.
