Rionegro: City Hall Website Redesign
Product Design / Web Design / Accesibility Assurance / Visual Designer
In the ever-evolving landscape of Rionegro, the City Hall's website had fallen behind. Recognizing the need to offer citizens an exceptional online experience, the City Hall took the bold step of redesigning its website.
YEAR
2020
ROLE
Product Designer
Visual Designer
Team & Company
Laura Acevedo - Lead Designer
@ Sun Haus
LIVE SITE
A Fresh Look, Accessible to All
Our challenge? Not just crafting an optimal user experience, but also weaving in the city's new brand guidelines while adhering to stringent national government accessibility standards for governmental platforms.
We embarked on this redesign by dissecting the old Rionegro website and benchmarking it against other city hall websites. What we found were several issues that demanded attention:
Inconsistent design
Chaotic text hierarchy and visual layout
Confusing navigation
Scant architectural information
A lack of communication regarding brand values and objectives.
With these pain points in mind, our focus was clear: we aimed to create a consistently appealing visual identity that met the project's exacting requirements.
Homepage designed by Laura Acevedo
A Website for All
The new Rionegro website is a digital haven for everyone – from nurses and teachers to students, police officers, and even farmers. We've ensured that every citizen can effortlessly perform tasks like staying updated on news, delving deeper into their culture, and even navigating complex documents and processes that once necessitated face-to-face interactions.
Results
Custom CMS: Development of five custom CMS for streamlined content publishing.
Accessibility: Web design adheres to governmental rules and accessibility requirements, including font variations, contrast options, and light/dark mode.
Mobile-First: Prioritized a mobile-first experience, ensuring seamless access and usability across devices.
In conclusion, the project delivered five tailored CMS solutions and a compliant website that ensures accessibility and inclusivity for Rionegro's citizens.
Key Takeways
Effective communication played a pivotal role in this project, serving as a linchpin for navigating complex, high-stakes endeavors involving government officials, development teams, and accessibility experts.
We deepened our technical expertise by successfully implementing web accessibility standards (WCAG) into the UI, resulting in a website that is genuinely inclusive.
Perhaps most significantly, we learned that integrating the new brand guidelines into the UI was not just a design challenge but also a unique opportunity. It allowed us to authentically reflect Rionegro's identity and values, highlighting that design transcends aesthetics and possesses the power to form a profound connection with the community.
