Politecnico di Milano brings together a diverse network of academic structures, each with its own communication needs. Degree programmes present their educational offer and student work, PhD programmes communicate research opportunities, while laboratories and research groups showcase projects, facilities, people and scientific activities.
I designed and developed the Polimi WordPress Toolkit, a shared website system built around the university’s digital design system. Combining a custom WordPress theme and companion plugin, it provides a flexible foundation for creating and managing websites across different academic contexts.
The Toolkit gives individual teams control over their content and editorial choices, while maintaining consistency in design, functionality and institutional identity.
Scale and reach
Initially developed for degree programme websites, the Toolkit has since expanded to accommodate a much broader range of university structures.
74
Degree Programmes (across 4 Schools)
362
Departmental Labs & Research Groups (across 12 Departments)
21
PhD Programmes
37
Interdepartmental Laboratories
Transforming WordPress into a website builder shaped by the design system
With the Polimi WP Toolkit, WordPress becomes a dedicated CMS for Politecnico di Milano’s digital design system. Page layouts, content types and editorial controls are built into the platform, giving course teams a complete publishing toolkit without additional page builders or design plugins.
The editing experience follows the logic of the design system itself. Editors work with purpose-built blocks and carefully defined options, choosing how to organise and present their content while typography, spacing, colours and component behaviour remain coordinated.
Designing the backend around the people who maintain the websites
Editorial autonomy depends on how confidently people can manage content after launch. The backend was designed with the same attention as the public website, around the needs of course teams with different levels of technical confidence. Distinct content types and clear editing controls help people understand where information belongs and what is needed to publish it.
The aim is to make each website sustainable to manage long after its initial setup.
One system, multiple institutional identities
Each website’s position within Politecnico di Milano’s organisational structure is defined through multiple levels of affiliation. The theme uses this information to automatically apply the appropriate colour palette, institutional logos, and configuration of selected features and components.
Degree programmes, PhD programmes, laboratories and research groups can therefore share the same technical foundation, with visual and functional characteristics tailored to their specific context.
A shared digital foundation that adapts to the identity and communication needs of each academic structure. Through an affiliation-driven branding system, the Toolkit accommodates the university’s organisational diversity, giving different types of websites their own recognisable visual identity while preserving consistency across the institution.
Part of the lasting value of designing for an entire university lies in giving its many voices the tools to express themselves within a shared identity.