case studies: APA
Client
With over 150,000 members, the American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and membership organization of psychologists in the world.
Challenge
APA’s web presence was a series of 12 non-cohesive web properties precipitating from a decentralized web model. Within each of APA’s departments, content contributors, designers, development resources, and contractors worked on web projects independently without any consistency oversight
Solution
The scale of APA’s redesign was massive: a dozen URLs, 50+ unique page types, several thousand pages. Executing a strategy to create order and unity required an iterative approach that began with user research, including:
- 30+ stakeholder interviews
- User testing with low-fidelity linked wireframes of key website pages
- Validation of assumptions about user engagement
Multi-Brand Management
While sub-brands typically have their own unique qualities, they borrow heavily from the main company’s flagship design and brand. This cohesiveness is achieved by carrying over selected elements of the home page to sub-brand pages and creating an awareness of “oneness” throughout the collection of the organization’s web properties.
To accomplish this, Navigationarts’ information architects and designers developed a global navigation and cohesive visual design for APA’s constellation of brands.
Project Results Included:
- Unifying web strategy, including standardized messaging and branding
- Site architecture that harnesses the commonalities across the organization
- User interface design with several alternative creative approaches
- Content governance model to establish workflows and content management policies
For a more detailed look at our work with APA, download the full case study.