They knew their site was overdue for an intense refresh, and that’s where we came in! The CB5 team reached out about revamping the site and we were happy to get started and create a design that better showcased the positive impact they have on their community.
A main goal of our project was updating their navigation, both the top menu bar on the homepage and across the site as a whole. In the previous design, the menu bar had several pages in the drop-downs, long enough that these would cover some of the content on the page. The new design has made the menu bar much more concise and in-line with the new design while still providing all of the previous content and information available.
Similarly, it was often difficult for users to find the resources and information they were looking for. However, with the redesign content as a whole has become much easier to find on the site, with better defined pathways from the homepage or other landing page to additional content.
But that’s not where we stopped. We noticed there were several other quality-of-life upgrades that we could make that would increase engagement and better segment content. We focused on the calendar, district map, and Airtable integration to best serve district 5 users easily understandable content.
With the previous calendar, announcements and descriptions were all on the bottom of the calendar page, which led to unnecessary scrolling and confusion on the visitors’ parts, as well as more work for the Board to update the page. Now all of the event details are held on the individual event pages, allowing visitors to easily share specific event pages and less work on the Board’s part.
The new district map also utilizes Google Maps to better display the landmarks and other buildings within the district, offering a much clearer and more interactive way to explore the district’s landmarks and resources with custom layers that provide additional information about overlaps with precincts, food pantries, and more.
Last but not least, the Board wanted a way to easily showcase how their work impacted the district, which they track via Airtable. With the new redesign, we were able to add an integration directly onto the site so that when changes and updates are made to the Airtable, these can be directly and immediately reflected on the site without additional work or misinformation due to lack of site updates.
As a whole, the redesign of the Community Board 5 website not only brought their online presence up to modern standards but also significantly improved user experience. By refining the navigation system, enhancing the calendar, updating the district map, and integrating Airtable, we made it simpler and more intuitive for users to find the information they need and not only better reflect the vibrant, dynamic nature of Manhattan’s Community Board 5 but also empower them to better serve their community.
