Project Overview

By partnering with CommonPlaces, New Futures was able to successfully launch a responsive, highly functional, user-friendly website for both ‘front-end’ and ‘back-end’ users. Along with creating an overall updated ‘look and feel’ consistent with New Futures’ branding guidelines, the new site promotes the New Futures advocacy network which is a primary function of the new site. 

The new site caught the attention of the Web Excellence Awards, who look for the ​​"best of the best" in web design and development. The New Futures site was given the Web Excellence Award for “Best Community Website” in 2022.

“CommonPlaces made everything understandable and digestible, and we stayed ‘in-the-loop’ throughout the entire project. The best part is you guys made it easy for us, and that’s all we can ask for.”
- Bobbi Burgess, New Futures
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Goals

New Futures initially came to CommonPlaces to achieve the following goals. 

  • Upgrade the overall design and layout of their site in a way that ensures digital brand consistency and mobile responsiveness. 
  • Create a simple, streamlined user experience to showcase information and helpful community resources in a way that is engaging and intuitive to navigate for Staff, Community Advocates, Donors, Investors and Stakeholders. 
  • Streamline integration with EveryAction Forms so forms are accessible and information gathered can be easily stored in the system
  • Build a user-friendly content management system to provide their content authors with an easy and efficient way to publish content in real-time.
  • Work with a vendor who could provide ongoing support, maintenance, and hosting services.
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Solution

CommonPlaces worked closely with New Futures on each section of their website, following our proven process that allowed feedback on each step and section while making sure the branding and functionality remained consistent. Forms and content management were assessed, and improvements were implemented so that site visitors were able to easily sign up for updates, find information through improved search functionality, and receive real time updates about law and policy changes.

Providing others with the tools to advocate for themselves and New Hampshire a priority for New Futures. We updated the navigation so that visitors could get to the advocacy registration form through the main menu, and become part of the New Futures advocacy network. In addition, much of the site’s content is shared with the general public to provide news, policies and blogs from active advocates

Keeping the overall user experience in mind, CommonPlaces revamped the usability of the Events Calendar and News Section of the site.  The Events Calendar was integrated into the main menu so that users can easily find and view the entire Events Calendar. CommonPlaces also created a simplified method for posting, categorizing, and archiving news articles so that they would be searchable and sortable by news type and category, as well as integrated with the site search. 

The content management system received an overhaul which created user-permissions for content authors so that they are now able to access the ‘back-end’ of their pages on the site in a visual environment which does not require coding. These 'builder pages' empower content authors to create a news article or place an infographic by dragging and dropping content blocks exactly where they are to appear on the website, and tag the content with the appropriate categories. They can now edit their content, preview changes, and publish in real-time, streamlining the overall process.

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