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Consortium for Service Innovation

At a glance

Type:
Nonprofit
Location:
Seattle, WA
Launch Date:
October 3, 2022
Services:
  • Custom Website Design
  • Custom WordPress Features
  • Custom WordPress Theme
  • Front-End Development
  • Information Architecture
  • Responsive Design
  • Training

Visit the Consortium for Service Innovation website

Full home page of ServiceInnovation.org on a large screen as of January 03, 2023. Sections include member summit advertisement, information about the organization with fun bubble-shaped pictures, logos of members in a carousel, two columns of quick links and the organization's new video. The site uses a blue and teal color scheme including gradients and background patterns. A distinctive left-side navigation menu makes the site have a unique design.
Full home page of ServiceInnovation.org on a small screen as of January 03, 2023. Sections include member summit advertisement, information about the organization with fun bubble-shaped pictures, logos of members in a carousel, two columns of quick links and the organization's new video. The site uses a blue and teal color scheme including gradients and background patterns. A distinctive left-side navigation menu makes the site have a unique design.

The Consortium for Service Innovation “is a nonprofit alliance of companies focused on innovation around customer and employee engagement, productivity, and success.” As the organization turned 30 in 2022, they needed a new look, a streamlined website, and new functionality to support their membership and community.

Already a long term client, this redesign project benefited from a strong existing working relationship to completely overhaul the website.

"Benefits of KCS" section includes a brief introduction and four boxes with a yellow left border, each describing one of the benefits: "Solve Cases and Incidents Faster", "Optimize Use of Resources", "Enable Self-service Strategy", and "Build Organizational Learning"
The "Member-Only Resources" section
After documenting the different types of information needed on the site, we collaboratively developed patterns of blocks for communicating things like lists of benefits or links to featured resources from the KCS Overview page.

Collaboration Increases Project Expertise

This project included a number of critical internal and external collaborators. Amy Weiher of Weiher Creative redesigned the logo while honoring the previous version and established new brand guidelines. Some early visioning for the website was key to starting the redesign process and instrumental in the final look of the site.

Within the organization, staff brought expertise in content strategy and information architecture, extensive knowledge of business processes, and the experience as former Consortium Members to heavily influence the final site.

The final site design was created collaboratively with the Consortium staff. Using a content- and component-driven approach to design, the site’s final form evolved through a process of frequent revisions to site content blocks and overall page layouts. That process will continue through the life of the site as the organization and brand evolve to support communication needs.

"Consortium Events" page showing January 2023 event. A search bar and "Filter Events" link with 2 subcategories support browsing. Each event appears with a linked title, date, and featured image along with a description and optional information about virtual events and RSVPs.
The event "Scoping the Topic: Coaching for Transformation" clearly indicated the date, time, and timezone of the event while a large, dark blue box with a bright blue "Register" button makes it clear how to attend.
Custom event features support multiple calendars and filtered views to help visitors find the right events. Once found, a user-friendly system for RSVPing and paid ticketing gives the Consortium full control over their events.

Incremental Phases Lead to Major Gains

Instead of a single relaunch, this project happened in three separate phases over the course of the year.

  1. Merged two sites into a single site with separate categorized event lists depending on audience. Previously, the Consortium operated a separate training and certification site for the methodologies they developed and maintained. A single site allowed for clearer branding and information that reduced visitor confusion.
  2. Move away from Eventbrite to a self-hosted WordPress-based system for event management.
  3. Completely redesign the website to implement new brand, using the block editor to given editors creative control over page designs

This phased structure enabled intensely focusing on each specific task through completion, and resulted in a better final product.

"Recently Published" page with tag filters and news stories displayed in a two-column grid. Each story has a cropped featured image with a swooping bottom edge along with the title, date, author, and excerpt of the post.
The "Latest KCS News" section of the KCS Overview page includes just stories about KCS. The stories mimic the layout of the main news page and appear on a dark blue gradient background with gentle abstract waves in the background.
The “Recently Published” page offers all updates filterable by category, but site editors can place “feeds” of Category news on relevant pages throughout the site. That puts useful information where people are most likely to find it.

Engaging and User-friendly

The left-side navigation is a light gray bar with a shadow making it appear behind the rest of the site. It contains the logo, seven primary navigation links, a search bar, and three quick links with icons anchored to the bottom of the sidebar.
The left-side nav bar.

The final design implemented a unique left-side navigation menu with quick links to related site that remains visible at all times to help visitors quickly find what they need. Subtle scroll- and hover-triggered animations give the site a dynamic feeling without interfering with using the site. The overall look and feel aligns with the multi-faceted organization’s technical work happening in a welcoming community of people.

Website accessibility was a major priority during the design and development phases, especially for features that involved motion and keyboard navigation. The color palette offers numerous opportunities for contrast-safe color combinations, and numerous other accessibility supports and accommodations make the website welcoming to any visitor.

This entire project centered people. Our web team of two consultants and two primary staff worked together closely to produce a cohesive final site, and the needs of visitors drove decisions throughout the process. This new site will serve as a solid foundation for the Consortium as they enter their fourth decade of work!