Government officials in Halton Region were interested in developing a municipal website that could better communicate news, events, and services to residents, tourists, and local businesses. Sandbox sat down with Halton’s citizens and municipal authorities to understand the previous website’s pitfalls and gain a better understanding of the features and design components needed to enhance the new project.

  • Facilitate stakeholder engagement workshops and deliver a research and findings document
  • Develop a phased implementation that considers all milestones and requirements
  • Develop a new Information Architecture through a consultative and iterative process that will form the foundation for the new Halton.ca
  • Design custom, user-centric creative concepts that align with Halton's visual identity
  • Significantly reduce the page count of the existing site and streamline content for the new Halton.ca

Solution

Sandbox redesigned the Halton Region website to be cross-browser compatible and user-friendly for stakeholders. Our content strategists improved navigation with a simplified information architecture and site map. The site was integrated with an advanced search portal and concierge tool that now boldly occupy the homepage. These two features help users locate services, taking pressure off municipal telephone help lines, and allowing municipal administrators to spend more time attending to urgent inquiries and emergencies.

Outcome

As organized content makes for better browsing, Halton’s streamlined web solution has allowed the region to communicate more efficiently with its online audience. Clean and vibrant graphics emphasize Halton’s unique charm, and the language and accessibility standards that are integrated into the municipal website ensure that a diverse audience can now use the site to its full capacity.

Halton Region Website Screenshot image shadow

“We found Sandbox well organized, extremely knowledgeable, and well positioned for this project. They brought with them a vast library of tools, an engaging approach which allowed multiple stakeholders to provide input, and were professional in their work.”

— Lori Brown, Project Manager, Halton Region

Our Digital Strategists facilitated a number of research and engagement activities with regional staff, local business owners and residents to ensure all user groups were given a voice in the new Halton.ca.

> Website Discovery & Recommendations

Our Content Strategist worked closely with the Halton team to audit content from the previous site and determine what was essential for the new site. Through the use of our proprietary content templates, phased content collection, and migration strategy Sandbox was able to successfully reduce the page count of Halton.ca from over 6,000 to under 400.

> Digital Strategy & Consulting

Informed by the recommendations generated from our research and discovery phase, our design team created a custom look for Halton Region. Halton's new creative is compliant with AODA and W3C accessibility regulations, is responsive across a range of devices and browsers and follows the branding guidelines established by the region.

> Accessibility Compliance