Design concept for the new website
We’re excited to share images of the design concept for the new County website. These were developed after several months of user research and testing. We interviewed a variety of Marin County residents and County employees, including people with disabilities, older adults, and people who speak Spanish and Vietnamese.
The images on this page show parts of the new page designs. If you are interested in seeing the full designs, please contact us.
Homepage
The new homepage is designed to help users find services, quickly and easily with featured service buttons. These can include:
- Top tasks across different types of users and demographics
- Assistance information (for housing, food, transportation, etc.)
- Timely or seasonal info (e.g., wildfire, road closures, covid, elections)
After the service buttons, the page features news and announcements. These cards replace the carousel on the current site and recent news releases.
Following the news section is a calendar to help users understand what Marin has to offer. This can include government events, like meetings as well as County-sponsored community events.
After the calendar is a way for people to learn how their government works, who represents them, and how to get involved.
How do I
The "How do I" page features different and more services than on the homepage. We tested calling the page "Services" but the phrase "How do I" was easier for some people to understand.
This page has service category cards with plain language descriptions about what people can do. This helps people scan the page and find what they need.
Home and property
This is an example of a page that helps people navigate to different services across several departments. This kind of page features descriptions that are short, simple, and action-oriented.
Department
Department pages include plain language descriptions of what the department does and the services they offer. The page also includes contact information that’s easy to find.
It also includes the potential for an alert bar for the department to make general announcements.
Footer
The footer includes the County logo to identify the site as an official government site. It includes disability access information and some other key links. It also includes an easy way to subscribe to email notifications from the County.
Other features
Here are some other features we included in the new design:
- A translation feature at the top of the page with suggestions for common languages.
- A “page updated” timestamp on the bottom of a page so people know if the information is up to date.
- A survey at the end of each page so people can let us know if they found what they were looking for.
- A “subscribe” button on certain pages so people can easily sign up for email notifications about a topic.
What’s next
The next step is to start building a prototype of the new homepage. After that we will begin developing a beta version of the new site based on these design concepts. We will then conduct another round of testing with members of the community and County employees, with a focus on people with disabilities.