Rocky View County needed information architecture and content strategy work for redesigning their website. We took Rocky View through a user-centred design process, then created a new information architecture and content strategy. During our research, it became clear that Rocky View served a diverse and geographically dispersed community. Their website was also written from the standpoint of the county, not the visitor or resident, so it was hard to find and understand information. To make the site more user-centred, we held resident focus groups and card sorting workshops.
Working collaboratively with Rocky View, we took the website from an organization-centred site to a resident-centred site. We made sure the website emphasized ways the resident could get involved, highlighted popular pages, and created great community pages. To improve a resident’s understanding of the services and amenities in their area, we recommended a page for each community. Even though this information is distributed through the site, the resident could easily look it up by his/her community.
Theresa did a wonderful job organizing the information design for Rocky View County’s upcoming website. The existing site was a navigational disaster, but Theresa expertly guided us through the process of identifying the steps required to understand the information needs of our audience, and then crafted a solid, well-researched organizational framework for us to build a new site around.Among other highlights she rethought and greatly improved our primary navigation system, introduced a detailed taxonomy, mapped our information hierarchy to key user goals and profiles, and laid the groundwork for our visual design with a gorgeous and comprehensive set of wireframes.
We needed to go from “complex and confusing” to “clear and organized”, and that’s exactly what Theresa delivered. She was very flexible and pleasant to work with, provided fast responses and answers, innovative, and has a detailed knowledge of her field. I highly recommend Theresa, and would work with her again anytime.
