Article by: Thomas Dean, Contributing Writer

On January 23, students and faculty were welcomed with updates to South’s website. The beauty lift was well supported, as one student recognized it as, “A much-needed update. With campus growing so much, it makes sense the website gets some love too.” 

I got the chance to sit down with the Vice-President of Marketing and Communications, Jim Bersheidt, as well as a team member who has wished to remain anonymous, to learn more about this digital update. 

Although it might only take a second to load, hours of planning and editing went into the design before the initial release. This landing page is only the start for a long-term digital revamp, intentionally focused on how South can promote its enrollment by targeting the next generation of Jaguars. 

“This will be a slow rollout. Probably over a couple of years.” Bercheidt continued, “Really, at a university, if you do web design properly, it should be recruiting the next group of students.”

While the website’s address remains the same (www.southalabama.edu), all new formats have been implemented to liven up the landing page. Continuing with our slogan ‘Flagship of the Gulf Coast,’ the 10.5-degree tilt, which is very prominent within many designs on campus, is now shown on the website as well. 

Still featuring the iconic Jaguar Red, White, and Blue, the website also showcases our secondary colors: Mobile Bay Blue, Pathfinder Yellow, Frontier Green, Horizon Orange, Commencement Gold, and Black. Beyond the background, the front page equally displays a scrolling panel of student resources such as housing information, athletic news, and even support for clubs and organizations. 

One team member acknowledged, “What we tried to sum up is what it’s like to be a Jaguar—how to be a Jaguar. Those are the two main things.” 

Overall feedback has been mostly positive, beyond some minor nitpicking. As one senior explained, “The old website really sucked. It was complicated and confusing…it was too long and too short; it felt so 2011. And my only disagreement with the new site is that I have to scroll all the way to the bottom to even see South Paw.”