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Stanford Graduate School of Business

An unforgettable experience, one hundred years in the making

Visit Stanford GSB Centennial

The challenge

Stanford Graduate School of Business needed a central, multimedia hub to unite hundreds of global events, showcase a century of impact, and tell powerful stories to a wide audience. It had to be immersive, editorial-friendly, and built to live well beyond the milestone year.

The Solution

We partnered with Stanford GSB to create a dynamic, lasting digital experience that honored the past, powered the present, and sparked future connection. The result? A storytelling platform that highlights history, energizes alumni, and equips internal teams with tools to keep the GSB story alive.

Building a digital home that brings it all together

To support a once-in-a-century celebration, the platform had to do more than look good. It needed to connect people through storytelling, participation, and pride. With events happening around the world and decades of history to share, Stanford GSB needed a single digital destination that could bring everything (and everyone) together.

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Bringing Stanford’s brand and legacy to life

We translated Stanford GSB’s Centennial brand into a thoughtful, digital-first design system. Every color, type choice, and layout element was selected with care, balancing heritage with modernity and keeping accessibility front and center.

The result is a platform that feels celebratory yet professional, sophisticated yet easy to navigate. It honors the institution’s legacy while welcoming a broad audience — from longtime alumni to prospective students discovering GSB for the first time.

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A future-proof platform for storytelling

At the heart of the experience is a custom WordPress site designed to bring editorial stories, events, and user-generated content together in one flexible, sustainable home. Built with accessibility, scalability, and performance in mind, it serves as a true storytelling engine — one that Stanford GSB can continue to evolve for years to come.

Features include a custom block-based design system for rich multimedia content, a homepage tailored to engage alumni, and interactive components like “Then & Now” photo galleries and map-based UGC submissions powered by Mosaic. Seamless integration with Stanford’s broader tech ecosystem, including SSO, analytics, and accessibility standards, ensured the platform fit right in.

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An immersive timeline that turns 100 years of history into an experience

The Centennial wasn’t just about what’s next — it was also about honoring what came before. To bring that history to life, we built one of the site’s most engaging features: a custom interactive timeline embedded directly into the platform.

Rather than build a static archive, we created a scrollable, decade-by-decade journey that invites users to explore 100 years of progress and impact. It’s immersive, dynamic, and aligned with the platform’s storytelling goals, helping alumni, students, and faculty connect past to present in a format that’s both meaningful and fun.

A data-rich experience that performs

Despite its complexity, the timeline remains lightweight and responsive. Smooth animations, smart filtering, and intuitive navigation keep the experience engaging across devices. Custom card layouts balance editorial content with structured data, while optimized media ensures high performance without compromising quality.

How we built it

Built light, fast, and ready for the next milestone

Behind the scenes, the timeline is powered by a custom Astro app and structured through Airtable, giving internal teams a flexible, editor-friendly way to manage stories, visuals, and data. Card-based layouts adapt to multiple content types, while smart media loading ensures speed and accessibility. It’s deployed through Vercel, with an architecture designed to grow and ready to migrate into Stanford’s Drupal ecosystem when needed.

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Results

Fast launch, lasting impact

The Centennial site quickly became more than a commemorative space — it became a connective one. Alumni, faculty, and the broader community engaged deeply with its stories, events, and immersive timeline, making it one of the most widely used elements of the celebration.

Delivered as a high-quality MVP on a compressed timeline, the project brought together teams across Stanford GSB through a clear, collaborative process — with a focus on building something beautiful, purposeful, and future-ready.

Together, we helped Stanford GSB:

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    Launch a future-proof, accessible WordPress platform

    Designed for scale, speed, and sustainability, with clean editorial workflows and a flexible design system that supports ongoing content creation.

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    Seamlessly integrate multimedia, user stories, and event content

    Creating a centralized hub that brings storytelling, participation, and history together under one roof.

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    Deliver an interactive timeline that works across platforms and devices

    A custom, media‑rich experience built for engagement, longevity, and future migration.

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    Empower internal teams with tools they can own and evolve

    From Airtable data to intuitive block‑based editing, the platform was designed for long‑term ownership from day one.

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    Set the foundation for ongoing storytelling and alumni engagement

    Purpose‑built for the Centennial — and ready for what comes next.