Transitioning a City Website Platform

User Experience Design, Content Strategy

Overview

In local government, opportunities for large-scale modernization are rare - big change happens over time. On my previous team, we started one of those large-scale modernization projects - an entirely new City website following Human-Centered Design standards. The challenge was, it was taking years longer than anticipated. In my new department, I was part of the team that oversaw the existing City website and our Drupal platform needed to be updated before the vision website was completed. We used this opportunity to not only make urgent technical updates but also identified opportunities to start implementing the long term vision immediately.

Impact

• Communications Office continues using my Human Centered Design process across the site and other products

• Better decision-making organization-wide from improved analytics

• New standards onboard department clients to user-centered practices aligned with long-term vision

Team

My role UX design and content strategy on global pages and elements; user research; updating our Google Analytics configuration.

Collaborators Content strategist and Google Analytics collaborator, visual designer, project manager, web admins, internal IT staff, developers.

Highlights

Transitioning the City Website from Old Practices to New

The City's homepage reflected years of incohesive, organic development—outdated design and multiple staff contributions. It was the ideal starting point.

Homepage content had been chosen by individual opinions and internal requests, not data or strategy. This caused:

• Cluttered, inaccessible links in limited space

• Outdated or low-traffic pages featured prominently

• High-priority pages missing or poorly phrased

• Overlooked interaction patterns

My task: rebuild the homepage with better responsiveness and accessibility. But I aimed higher—identifying immediate steps toward the long-term vision. I couldn't shift the entire culture at once, so I focused on implementable principles:

1. Prioritize services (what users need most)

2. Use user language, not department names

3. Write action-oriented content

4. Make data-driven content decisions

Using Data to Inform Homepage Content

We lacked clear, reliable data sources. Our analytics were incomplete—poor information architecture, navigation, and search meant users weren't finding what they needed through normal paths.

I gathered insights from every available source, blending current and human-centered design standards:

• Drupal and Google Analytics

• Data compiled in a previous project

• Proof-of-concept vision project research

• Organizational data (3-1-1 calls, public surveys)

• Colleague expertise

• Market research

• Legal requirements

• Existing internal standards

Example Content Block: Popular Services

Improving Visibility of Higher Priority Content

The previous homepage strategy crammed everything into a single view with minimal scrolling. Two sections—"I Need To…" and "Select a Service"—sat in inconspicuous, redundant menus with years-old links. Since services are users' highest priority, I consolidated these menus into one prominent block displaying 8 services (based on industry research) with a clearer interaction pattern.

Usability testing validated this—most participants scrolled to this block first.

Using Design Principles to Inform Information Hierarchy

Next step: improve hierarchy by prioritizing services. The homepage featured a rotating news carousel at the top—internal clients loved it and considered top placement critical. I used industry research showing carousels get low interaction to replace it with tiles and shift to a data-driven approach. Since research showed higher demand for services, I moved services up and news down.

Research suggested most users don't visit for news, so I'd have preferred moving it lower. But internal expectations were strong, so I compromised on second position—preparing clients to eventually support prioritizing higher-need content.

Finding Accurate Data to Make Informed Decisions

I started with existing analytics but couldn't identify what users needed, so I improved the analytics configuration:

• Google Analytics showed top pages, but search analytics weren't configured. A colleague and I set them up for future insights.

• Drupal tracked search terms too vaguely to determine user intent. I proposed updates for our new system.

I filled gaps by collaborating with key stakeholders:

• 3-1-1 help line data on top service requests

• Equity Office and Community Engagement teams' input on needed services

I aggregated sources into a spreadsheet and identified patterns:

• Strong overlap between Drupal, Google Analytics, and 3-1-1 data

• Equity/Community Engagement services had few overlaps—suggesting low findability or awareness

• Top links weren't all "services"—some provided other information

• Top pages varied seasonally

I also identified top user profiles based on community expert input and years of City human-centered design work.

Consolidating Data into a Cohesive Design

Data fell into two types:

• Highest-searched services relevant to most Austin residents and visitors

• Resources for specific user types—residents needing government services, business community, and civic engagement enthusiasts

I placed the first type in a "Popular Services" block on the homepage. I moved the second to three global pages (Resident, Business, Government) as "Featured Resources."

Popular Services = top-accessed and searched. Featured Resources = high-need but potentially low-awareness. These blocks let us:

• Drive traffic and raise awareness

• Introduce staff to equity-driven decisions

• Track performance over time

I designed blocks similarly for easy adaptation and created seasonal content rotations.

Enabling Continued Evolution Toward the Long-Term Vision

I documented the content strategy, analytics, and design elements in a Web Standards Guidebook, compiled with the Proof of Concept team. Two years later, it still guides ongoing development.

Impact

• Communications Office continues using my Human Centered Design process across the site and other products

• Better decision-making organization-wide from improved analytics

• New standards onboard department clients to user-centered practices aligned with long-term vision