Overview

The old phoenix.gov was cluttered and difficult to navigate. Users often struggled to find what they needed, wading through dense, disorganized information. Search provided little help, frequently returning irrelevant or outdated results.

The City of Phoenix partnered with Reingold to design a research-driven, accessible, and user-centered digital experience for residents.

My Role

I led the overall user experience strategy including:

• Peer Website Analysis
• User Stories and Personas
• Information Architecture / Sitemap
• Findings and Recommendations Presentation
• Wireframes and Low-fidelity Prototypes

Results

On March 24, 2025, the City of Phoenix launched its official redesigned site—three months ahead of schedule and exceeding accessibility targets. The project was a full Reingold team effort across UX, content, and development. I'm proud to have led the user experience strategy that helped achieve these outcomes.

Discovery

Designing a website that serves 1.5 million residents meant balancing the needs of more than 40 departments. We started by identifying what wasn't working and learning how people actually use the site.

Through stakeholder interviews, peer website analysis, and user research, we uncovered clear opportunities to simplify navigation, improve search, and make city services easier to find.

Personas and User Stories

To ensure the new site reflected how residents find and complete city tasks, we created user stories and personas informed by generative research and validated through stakeholder feedback. These insights helped us focus on essential services and features during the redesign.

Information Architecture

Before reimagining the information architecture, we laid out the current-state structure of phoenix.gov using Slickplan. This exercise shed light on the website's existing content. Building on our findings from the discovery phase, we crafted a new sitemap aimed at creating a more intuitive and user-centric experience.

Tree Testing

To validate our new sitemap, we conducted a tree test using Optimal Workshop. We had nearly 100 Phoenix residents participate. The insights from this test, combined with a thorough content audit and SEO analysis, allowed us to further refine the sitemap.

Wireframes

After finalizing our new draft sitemap, I created a series of low-fidelity wireframes to visualize our proposed user experience and content strategy for the new phoenix.gov.

I began with the global header and footer, which allowed me to validate the sitemap and navigation strategy early in the process. Below are the initial wireframes, including the header and navigation menus.

Prototyping rough mobile wireframes confirmed the effectiveness of our navigation approach on handheld devices.

One of our key strategies for the redesign focused on decoupling services and topics from specific departments. This approach aimed to simplify the process for residents, allowing them to find services directly without needing to know which department was responsible.

Department Landing Pages

We designed consistent layouts for department landing pages, ensuring a familiar experience across city departments.

Deeper Department Pages

In collaboration with content strategists and department stakeholders, we identified specific departmental needs. Our goal is to design coherent pages that prioritize structure and readability.

Transforming the City's Digital Experience

Team Reingold transformed Phoenix.gov into a modern, accessible, and user-friendly platform. Today, more than 1.5 million residents can easily find information and services, while city staff have better tools to manage content—helping Phoenix communicate more effectively with its community.