Iota Chi Sigma
From lapsed domain to live recruitment hub in 3 weeks, 25% under budget.
Recruitment season was close, and the chapter had no working website. I scoped, designed, and built a focused 4-page Squarespace site that chapter members can update themselves.
Not finding the chapter online was costing them recruits
Prospective members searching for the chapter found only social media pages. Recruits need to find the chapter, see that it's active, and get in touch, so this was a recruitment problem with a hard deadline, not a cosmetic one.
The domain registration had expired. The chapter had no address of its own.
No owned presenceThe previous site was outdated and offline, so there was little reusable content to work with.
Thin contentNew leadership wanted a real site live before recruitment, on a fixed budget.
Fixed budget · ~3 weeksThe scope conversation that made the launch date
The first wishlist had 9 pages plus member login, donations, and event registration, which didn't fit the budget or the timeline. I went back to the site's actual job: new recruits need to learn about the chapter, find events, and make contact. I checked every requested feature against that.
- Home
- About
- Events
- Contact
- History Phase 2
- Members Phase 2
- Foundation Phase 2
- Undergraduates Phase 2
- Affiliates Phase 2
- Member login · Donations · Event registration Phase 2
- Home Discover
- About Verify
- Events Attend
- Contact Contact
Each page maps to one step of the recruit's journey: discover, verify, attend, contact.
Three constraints shaped every decision
A 7-page site with a login would have served the chapter's org chart, not the recruit. Focusing on the recruit's path cut the scope almost in half without losing value.
After launch, chapter members, not designers, would update events and photos. The build had to hold up under non-designer edits.
Beyond photos and copy saved from the old site, there was little material. The design had to look complete with a small amount of content.
Royal blue & gold, built to be reused
I built a small set of tokens and components from the chapter's official colors. Glacial Indifference handles structure and navigation, and Lora adds warmth for an organization with a long history. Both are available natively in Squarespace, so future edits won't break the type.
The Sigma Soirée
Signature fundraiser for youth initiatives.
Operation Big Book Bag
School supplies for local students.
Hattie McDaniel Program
Breast cancer awareness & education.
Consistency built in as a guardrail
Instead of custom layouts for each page, every page is built from a few section patterns that can be duplicated. When the chapter adds an event, they copy an existing card, and the site still looks professionally designed.
The new card keeps the grid, type, and spacing automatically. No design decisions are left to the editor.
Squarespace: a managed platform with a forgiving editor, no plugins to maintain, and hosting the chapter owns directly.
Pages lead with photography and short copy blocks. I rewrote the salvaged copy around the questions recruits ask instead of adding filler.
Both typefaces are available in Squarespace, so nothing breaks when the chapter edits pages later.
Four pages, one recruit journey
The four pages as they shipped on Squarespace. Each one maps to a step in the recruit's journey.
Live before recruitment, owned by the chapter
The site launched on schedule at iotachisigma.com, in 3 weeks, for 25% under budget. The chapter went from an unpublished site and a lapsed domain to a live website it owns, with the Events and Contact pages at the center. Ownership transferred fully at launch, and the chapter now updates content itself.
Contact-form inquiries since launch
Recruitment-season visits (Squarespace analytics)
Scope is a design decision
The easy move was to say yes to everything and let the deadline or the budget slip later. Being direct before work began protected the deadline, the budget, and the quality of what shipped.
Design for handoff, not dependency
The chapter isn't locked into a retainer it didn't ask for. The Phase 2 items (member login, donations, more pages) have a clear place in the site when the chapter is ready.
Planning a website your team can actually run?
I scope, design, and build sites that teams can manage themselves after launch.
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