Government UX
Re-desiged civic government website to be more accessible, discoverable, and maintainable.
WCAG accessibility Compliance
Drop in Help-Desk phone calls
The City of San Juan, Texas relied on an outdated website that served as the primary digital hub for residents to:
the legacy website no longer matched modern expectations for government digital experiences.
Project Manager/WebMaster
UX Designer
Webflow Developer
City Leadership (Mayor, CTO, Department Directors)
Media Specialists
Cyber Security Admins
As the city expanded services and aimed to feel more approachable with a civic brand slogan "The Friendly City", the legacy website no longer matched modern expectations for government digital experiences.
Outdated, unstructured navigation; visual inconsistencies; mobile friction; difficult to maintain; cybersecurity risks from self-hosting (DDoS crashes).
Significant friction for the primary hub for residents to make payments, download and submit forms, and discover information.
Minimal attention to appearances and missed branding opportunities.
The legacy site was suffering from a lack of structure which led to a disorienting navigation, and visual inconsistencies.
This led to unnecessary friction for residents needing quick access to essentials like utility payments, court fines, permits, job openings, or event info, especially on mobile.
Maintenance was a challenge as well, global style settings were untidy and caused for inconsistency in spacing, color and typography.
To top it off, due to poor foundation via self-hosting, the site would crash due to DDoS attacks, a major risk for cybersecurity.
Through my research I found Government websites succeed when they prioritized "task completion speed" over everything else.
GA4 events showed that residents visit to accomplish 3 specific actions:
Being Accessible and Easy to Navigate would help with our SEO.
Our Legacy site did not consistently follow design principles making navigating the site a challenging experience for users.
This site needed a Design System
Restructured the homepage into clear, scannable sections. Consolidated repetitive links, added dedicated sections that followed department-specific logic, and ensured consistent UX Copywriting language.
introduced a consistent visual language with consistent typography, iconography
Developed a prominent Site-Wide Search bar, created direct paths to essential resident functions (Payments, Agendas, Alerts, Reporting, etc.) and event dating for better visibility.
Provided a clean hierarchy and effective spacing to make a fast Task Completion Speed easy to attain.
The updated site feels welcoming and professional.
Residents can now quickly find and complete high-frequency tasks without scrolling through clutter.
Key improvements include:
Overall, it positions the city as more professional, responsive and "friendly" to align with our city brand.