Situated in the heart of Ontario, Canada, is Dufferin County.
It’s a picturesque destination offering a blend of rural charm and modern amenities. With its rolling hills, lush farmlands, and quaint villages, Dufferin County is idyllic for those seeking a tranquil escape from the hustle and bustle of city life.
Dufferin County’s legacy website — although useful — did not accurately reflect the County’s updated brand guidelines and the modern user experience it wished to deliver. In an effort to better portray the County’s assets and create an engaging and memorable user experience, CT was hired.
Goals:
Design and develop a modern and accessible municipal website
Implement a scalable and easy to update content management system
Create a flexible pattern library aligned with municipal brand guidelines
Feeling Blue
With both navy and dusty blues emerging as primary colours in Dufferin County’s brand guidelines, CT was careful to create a user interface that reflected a cool, comforting vibe. Curved corners, circles, and ring patterns inspired by the County’s logo were pulled into the website design to create visual depth and interest, and to give the site a sense of momentum.
Our Approach
We initiated the County’s project with both a digital survey and series of user story roundtable discussions to understand the specific needs of residents, businesses, and other stakeholders from within the area. Responses gathered from the digital survey and roundtables informed our project team of the functionalities and information architecture improvements required to deliver an impactful digital experience.
A New CMS
Shifting the County from Drupal 8 to WordPress, our highly accessible, scalable, and responsive website solution was built to support Dufferin with an easy back-end management experience. The website features filterable news and event listings, career opportunities, and a services directory. It also houses multimedia (images and video), numerous fillable forms, downloadable resources, and e-newsletter sign-ups. Each page’s design features micro-animations for added visual interest, and clear calls-to-action to guide them to the information they seek with ease.
