CHALLENGE & OPPORTUNITY
ENHANCEMENT
LOW-LIFT ACTIONS
A joyful expression of the values that unite Jews around the world, JewishColumbus' visionary newborn-to-senior programming enriches the everyday lives of a rapidly growing number of Jews in Central Ohio.
The organization's evolution and growth has inevitably put a strain on the JewishColumbus website. Though it succeeds in communicating an unmistakably authentic optimistic spirit, the site's content has outgrown its container. This absence of a discernible narrative inadvertently invites visitors to create their own version — of your story.
This interim website refresh is an opportunity to present a clear and cohesive narrative that celebrates the work of JewishColumbus and the community it faithfully serves. We are eager to meet the challenge by reshaping the site with order, space, and clarity.
ENHANCEMENT
TECHNICAL & VISUAL DESIGN
LOW-LIFT ACTIONS
Knowing a full rebrand is forthcoming, we’ll stay true in this iteration to your fundamental brand elements. Conceptually, we’ll approach the project as a site refresh: returning visitors will experience a cleaner, more coherent version of a familiar site.
Technically, though, it's most efficient to approach it as a rebuild; editing and/or augmenting the current WordPress theme will only further bloat the front and backends. Since the current site is built in WordPress, the text, images, video, and third-party embeds of its 25 pages can be easily imported into a clean, custom, future-friendly theme, built within the universally editable, user-friendly ThemeCo WordPress ecosystem.
Equally important to refreshing the visual looks and feel, we'll design powerful backend classification systems, taxonomies, and content management protocols. These brand-agnostic systems will create efficiencies and utilities that can remain in place even as the brand re-imagines itself in 2026.
LOW-LIFT ACTIONS
In technology especially, the word enhancement typically carries an expectation of augmentation: novel features, additional interactivity, more information. And while we may introduce some new ways to display content, we'll take a reductive approach as we simplify what's already there.
Rather than thinking in terms of enhancing the site, then, we'll stay oriented toward enhancing the site visitor’s understanding of JewishColumbus: the services you offer, the communities you serve, the values you champion. So long as we hold our design decisions to that standard, we’ll have achieved the goals you’ve set forth.
ENHANCEMENT
LOW-LIFT ACTIONS
Up until now we've talked about the refresh in broad terms, and you've kindly indulged my use of mildly ambiguous words like "order, space, and clarity." Here are some tangible actions that will help bring those aspirations to fruition:
- Apply consistent typography, spacing, and content grouping
- Use autoplay sliders conservatively, favoring static, high-quality imagery and concise headlines with calls to action/button links.
- Consolidate duplicative navigation items into a single, intuitive hierarchy.
- Introduce consistent button language (i.e. Explore, Join, Support) to replace the current scattershot of calls-to-action.
- Audit image metadata and internal linking, update as appropriate to improve site and search engine performance.
Lastly, let's look at some specific notes on the homepage.
TECHNICAL & DESIGN
ENHANCEMENT
LOW-LIFT ACTIONS
JewishColumbus' visionary newborn-to-senior programming enriches the everyday lives of a rapidly growing number of Jews in Central Ohio, all in a joyful expression of the values that unite Jews around the world.
The organization's rapid evolution and growth has inevitably put a strain on the JewishColumbus website, which has begun to collapse under the expansion. While none of the site's information is necessarily without substance, the absence of a discernible narrative inadvertently invites visitors to create their own version — of your story.
This interim website refresh is an opportunity to present a clear and cohesive narrative that celebrates the work of JewishColumbus and the community it faithfully serves. We are eager to meet the challenge by reshaping the site with order, space, and clarity.
ENHANCEMENT
TECHNICAL & DESIGN
LOW-LIFT ACTIONS
Knowing a full rebrand is forthcoming, we’ll stay true in this iteration to your fundamental brand elements. Conceptually, we’ll approach the project as a site refresh: returning visitors will experience a cleaner, friendlier version of a familiar site.
Technically, though, it's most efficient to approach it as a rebuild; editing and/or augmenting the current WordPress theme will only further bloat the front and backends. Since current site is built in WordPress, the text, images, video, and third-party embeds of its 25 pages can be easily imported into a clean, custom, future-friendly theme, built within the universally editable, user-friendly ThemeCo WordPress ecosystem.
Equally important to refreshing the visual looks and feel, we'll design powerful backend classification systems, taxonomies, and content management protocols. These brand-agnostic systems will create efficiencies and utilities that can remain in place even as the brand re-imagines itself in 2026.
ENHANCEMENT
TECHNICAL & DESIGN
LOW-LIFT ACTIONS
In technology especially, the word enhancement typically carries an expectation of augmentation: novel features, additional interactivity, more information. While we may introduce some new ways of displaying content, we'll take a more reductive approach as we simplify what's already there.
Rather than thinking in terms of enhancing the site, then, we'll stay oriented toward enhancing the site visitor’s understanding of JewishColumbus: the services you offer, the communities you serve, the values you champion. So long as we hold our design decisions to that standard, we’ll have achieved the goals you’ve set forth.
ENHANCEMENT
TECHNICAL & DESIGN
LOW-LIFT ACTIONS
Up until now we've talked about the refresh in broad terms, and you've kindly indulged my use of mildly ambiguous words like "order, space, and clarity." Here are some tangible actions that will help bring those aspirations to fruition:
- Apply consistent typography, spacing, and content grouping
- Use autoplay sliders conservatively, favoring static, high-quality imagery and concise headlines with calls to action/button links.
- Consolidate duplicative navigation items into a single, intuitive hierarchy.
- Introduce consistent button language (i.e. Explore, Join, Support) to replace the current scattershot of calls-to-action.
- Audit image metadata and internal linking, update as appropriate to improve site and search engine performance.
Lastly, let's look at some specific notes on the homepage.
If you have access to a tablet or laptop, be sure to check out the full-featured version of this page!
Challenge & Opportunity
A joyful expression of the values that unite Jews around the world, JewishColumbus' visionary newborn-to-senior programming enriches the everyday lives of a rapidly growing number of Jews in Central Ohio.
The organization's evolution and growth has inevitably put a strain on the JewishColumbus website. Though it succeeds in communicating an unmistakably authentic optimistic spirit, the site's content has outgrown its container. This absence of a discernible narrative inadvertently invites visitors to create their own version of your story.
This interim website refresh is an opportunity to present a clear and cohesive narrative that celebrates the work of JewishColumbus and the community it faithfully serves. We are eager to meet the challenge by reshaping the site with order, space, and clarity.
Technical & Visual Design
Knowing a full rebrand is forthcoming, we’ll stay true in this iteration to your fundamental brand elements. Conceptually, we’ll approach the project as a site refresh: returning visitors will experience a cleaner, friendlier version of a familiar site.
Technically, though, it's most efficient to approach it as a rebuild; editing and/or augmenting the current WordPress theme will only further bloat the front and backends. Since the current site is built in WordPress, the text, images, video, and third-party embeds of its 25 pages can be easily imported into a clean, custom, future-friendly theme, built within the universally editable, user-friendly ThemeCo WordPress ecosystem.
Equally important to refreshing the visual looks and feel, we'll design powerful backend classification systems, taxonomies, and content management protocols. These brand-agnostic systems will create efficiencies and utilities that can remain in place even as the brand re-imagines itself in 2026.
Enhancement
In technology especially, the word enhancement typically carries an expectation of augmentation: novel features, additional interactivity, more information. While we may introduce some new ways of displaying content, we'll take a more reductive approach as we simplify what's already there.
Rather than thinking in terms of enhancing the site, then, we'll stay oriented toward enhancing the site visitor’s understanding of JewishColumbus: the services you offer, the communities you serve, the values you champion. So long as we hold our design decisions to that standard, we’ll have achieved the goals you’ve set forth.
Low Lift Actions
Up until now we've talked about the refresh in broad terms, and you've kindly indulged my use of mildly ambiguous words like "order, space, and clarity." Here are some tangible actions that will help bring those aspirations to fruition:
- Apply consistent typography, spacing, and content grouping
- Use autoplay sliders conservatively, favoring static, high-quality imagery and concise headlines with calls to action/button links.
- Consolidate duplicative navigation items into a single, intuitive hierarchy.
- Introduce consistent button language (i.e. Explore, Join, Support) to replace the current scattershot of calls-to-action.
- Audit image metadata and internal linking, update as appropriate to improve site and search engine performance.
Lastly, let's look at some specific notes on the homepage:
The seemingly limitless, unstructured offerings of the current header is overwhelming, particularly to first-time visitors who aren't yet familiar with the organization.
Too many navigation options in the header can be overwhelming, particularly to first-time visitors who aren't yet familiar with the organization. We'll replace these unstructured and competing elements with a single, limited menu that provides visitors a clear path to discovery.
The area directly beneath the site header is the most precious real estate on the homepage. Slides can be an excellent use of this space, provided they're held to high standards. The most immediate problem with the current slides is the illegible text. It's an easy fix.
Not as obvious, but equally problematic, is the peculiar manner the current slideshow is configured: rather than discreet pictures and text, the section plays a single static video file. Any change, whether adding a new slide or editing an existing slide, requires editing the original video file. It's inflexible and unnecessarily cumbersome.
We'll replace this section with a new module, accessible by JC staff via a user-friendly interface that gives full control over the content. Concurrently, we'll work with you to develop guidelines to govern the types of content to feature here, and we'll build an image overlay to ensure the text is always legible.
The first of these slides is promoting an event that will have already passed by the time of the site build. We'll allocate space on the homepage to display time-sensitive event notices like this.
The second slide appears to be redundant navigation.
We'll give the mission statement a place of privilege, displayed more legibly with a higher-contrast color pairing.
We'll explore reclaiming the space currently occupied by the stats, which may more effective in a context that speaks to specific stakeholders.
Finally, the items beneath Community Campaign don't seem closely-enough related — either to the headline or each other — to warrant such a prominent grouping. With a clearer understanding of your intention, we may discover a more coherent presentation.
I'd like to make the NEWS section prominent on the homepage. Rather than save it for special one-off posts, we can use it to announce new programs, upcoming events, and other time-sensitive content.
We'll also explore integrating relevant social media posts and mentions, and in service of projecting the vitality of JewishColumbus' work, we recommend removing the publish dates until we have more recent posts to share.
Cumulatively, this will help project JewishColumbus' vibrancy and dynamism, while giving us a catch-all space for content that may not necessarily warrant a dedicated place in the site navigation.
We'll facilitate and encourage regular updates by creating an inviting UI on the site's backend, and we'll be here to train and assist your team whenever you need us.
