Clean website aesthetics improve organization and intuitiveness to allow easy in-house updates

Background

Praxent designed and built an informational site using WordPress. They focused on providing clean aesthetics to improve organization and intuitiveness to allow easy in-house updates.

Praxent created an aesthetically-pleasing website that presents content cleanly, ultimately improving fundraising efforts. They made a detailed project outline and met every deadline on budget. They’re devoted to the success of any project, no matter how small, and earned a follow-up contract.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Faculty Director for the Center for Leadership and Ethics at the University of Texas at Austin.

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Opportunity / Challenge

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

Our website was difficult to navigate and featured an outdated design. We engaged Praxent to create a new site with a fresh look and clean organization.

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Solution

What was the scope of their involvement?

They sat down with us to go over our existing site. We also showed them a few sites with aesthetics we admired. We then began to outline the project. They told us what was expected from our end–content, text and graphics approval, etc.–and outlined a schedule and budget. During this phase, they offered their own suggestions for the project based on their expertise.

The site was built using WordPress and essentially serves to convey information to students and potential donors. Praxent helped us organize strategies for different pages, landing spots, and backend analytics before working with us on the design elements.

We worked together closely as they began populating the content, providing edits and feedback. Based on our suggestions, they worked to reconfigure the strategy around each page.

While creating a visually appealing site was our primary goal, we also wanted it to be intuitive so our in-house staff could make edits easily. Praxent provided training to ensure our team members understood the system.

Having completed version 1.0, they’re currently building the second iteration with more complex features.

What is the team composition?

There were three people in total. Kevin (Hurwitz, Managing Partner, Praxent) connected at the beginning and end of the project. I worked primarily with a project manager and a technical specialist who built the site and provided the training.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

They developed a complex web project for another department at the University of Texas. They came highly recommended as competent developers who could deliver on time and on budget.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2017 and our relationship is ongoing. Having completed the last round a year ago, we’ve engaged them to help with the second iteration of the site.

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Results & Feedback

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

I’m much more comfortable showing the new site to potential donors. Our advisory council members think the site has an improved, clean look and find the content clearer. A colleague who teaches communications also gave positive feedback, saying the site is clean and to the point, with no wasted space or excess text.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent across the board. They clearly articulate their strategies and communicate their progress. They create a detailed schedule and meet every deadline on budget.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I don’t have a lot of experience working with developers, but I was very impressed by the level of attention they devoted to us. I know they have bigger clients with bigger budgets, but they worked hard to deliver our project on time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Development of version 1.0 went very smoothly, but I would like to hear more strategic input as we move into version 2.0. I’m not tech-oriented, so it would be nice if they gave more detailed suggestions about what functionalities are possible under different budgets, and the pros and cons of each.