Background 

EdTrust (The Education Trust), a nonprofit in Washington, DC, champions policies to address racial and economic disparities in American education. In 2023, I was engaged to streamline their web operations and to lead a critical redesign of their website, addressing structural and usability challenges. Partnering with the Editorial and Art Directors, I guided the project through the phases of planning, development, and launch. 

Key Challenges 

• Outdated Visuals and Structure: The previous website design, over a decade old, lacked modern aesthetics and intuitive functionality, failing to effectively highlight EdTrust’s mission, impact, and priorities.

• Content Discoverability: Critical content, including state and federal initiatives, was buried in an unstructured site, limiting user engagement and accessibility to key P-12 and higher education resources.

• Accessibility and Usability: Poor color contrast, a convoluted navigation system, and hidden dropdown menus created significant barriers to readability and navigation.

• Search Functionality: A lack of robust search capabilities hindered users from filtering content by topic, type, or date, making resource discovery cumbersome.

Contributions and Responsibilities 

• Product Scoping and Requirement Gathering: Collaborated with stakeholders to define project goals, align priorities, and establish a clear roadmap balancing technical and design requirements.

• Vendor Management: Developed a comprehensive RFP, evaluated vendor proposals, and onboarded a digital agency with capabilities tailored to EdTrust’s budget and project needs.

• Content Strategy and Taxonomy Development: Conducted an in-depth content audit and designed a taxonomy system to enable dynamic, topic-based filtering of resources such as reports, data tools, blogs, and press releases.

• Design Collaboration and Architecture: Partnered with the agency to review wireframes, user journeys, and design mockups, ensuring the final product met accessibility standards and user expectations.

• Quality Assurance and Content Migration: Directed end-to-end QA testing to verify site functionality and usability. Oversaw content migration, training interns, and documenting WordPress workflows to support ongoing maintenance.

• Governance and Training: Established web governance policies and created comprehensive training materials, including editorial guidelines and procedural documentation, to maintain content quality and consistency.

Impact 

By leading a structured, user-centered approach to digital product management, the redesigned website achieved:

• Improved User Experience: A responsive, accessible site with a modern design and enhanced navigation.

• Enhanced Search and Discoverability: A taxonomy-driven system that allows users to filter and find content easily.

• Efficient Delivery: The project was completed on time and within budget, meeting organizational goals for visibility and usability.

This initiative reinforced EdTrust’s digital presence, empowering users to engage more deeply with its mission and resources while ensuring a scalable and sustainable platform for future growth.