Multilingual institutional website redesign
A public institution's website had grown into several hundred pages organised around internal departments. Citizens could not find services, content was inconsistent across languages, and the site failed basic accessibility checks.
- Client type
- Public institution serving citizens and businesses, with a communications team of non-technical editors.
- Problem
- Navigation mirrored the organisational chart rather than user tasks. Kinyarwanda and French content lagged behind English. The CMS was outdated, difficult to update securely, and the site was slow on mobile connections.
- Approach
- Content audit and analytics review; interviews with front-line staff who field public inquiries; task-based information architecture validated with representative users; wireframes before visual design; a content migration plan with editor ownership per section.
- Systems involved
- Content management system, document repository, existing email newsletter service, and links to national service platforms.
- Solution delivered
- A redesigned site organised around services and tasks; a structured multilingual content model with translation status tracking; accessible, performance-optimised templates; editor training and a content governance guide.
- Outcomes
- Public can reach key services in fewer steps; editorial team maintains content across three languages without developer support; site meets agreed accessibility criteria and loads acceptably on low-bandwidth connections.