Uncover & Understand
The City of Eldridge had outgrown its former website in every way. The navigation was broken and inconsistent, the content was disorganized, and the design lacked cohesion and representation. Residents voiced concerns over how hard it was to find essential information—especially on mobile.
Before
Internally, the city team also struggled with an inefficient system. From uploading council meeting packets and forms to posting important public notices, it was clear that they needed something better.
They had three primary goals for the new site:
- Create a visually appealing and mobile-friendly design
- Reorganize the site’s structure for fast and simple navigation
- Improve accessibility for residents of all ages and abilities
Ideate & Implement
We began by digging deeper into the sitemap and existing content. From there, we structured the new sitemap around how users actually search for city services, news, and documents. We paired that with user-friendly navigation and mobile responsiveness.
To modernize the visual presence, we introduced original photography, consistent page layouts, and a color palette and font system that felt bright, friendly, and civic-minded.
We also added a filter function for city council and board agendas, allowing users to find information more efficiently. Internally, we built a back-end system that made the process easier for staff to manage and update consistently. The site looks better and works harder.
After
Refine & Refresh
Once the new website was launched, the results were immediate. Site performance, accessibility, SEO, and best practices all saw major improvements:
Before
After
Our city had a great experience working with de Novo Marketing on our new website. The old site was outdated and complaints from residents indicated information was hard to find so it was time for a change. de Novo had a streamlined process to help us develop the perfect site to fit our needs. None of our staff felt overwhelmed during the process. It was quick and easy. Their staff was great to work with and very responsive to questions. It has only been live a few weeks, but so far we have received many comments from residents giving the city accolades for creating this new user-friendly website. I would recommend de Novo.
—Jeffrey Martens, Assistant City Administrator
