Content Engagement

A department of the U.S. government had a huge online footprint, with high-volume, high-complexity content spanning thousands of pages and tens of thousands of documents, forms, and other assets. Several face-lift efforts in the past had created a sprawling experience that yielded low engagement and findability. The organization needed a brand new digital approach that could effectively deliver programs and services to a broad constituent base through future-forward experiences.

LDS started the engagement by assessing the site not based on its current organization by offices and sub-offices, but in terms of constituent needs. We were convinced that we needed to consider the experience from the users’ perspectives first, including those of financial institutions, international organizations, the media, students, teachers, and many more. We identified key user segments, the relationships among them, and the content and experiences they needed most. Based on automated, data-driven, and human-assisted research, we formulated hypotheses for what the solution should deliver, and to whom. New experience paradigms considered brand, services, communications, and initiatives, facilitating a multidirectional digital exchange between the government department and the diverse groups it serves.

The effort delivered a solution vision, design framework, content architecture, foundational needs, a brand-aligned visual design, and a content operations plan that guided iterative development towards the new solution.