In the digital age, a municipal website is far more than a digital brochure—it is the primary interface between local government and its citizens. It serves as a community hub, an information center, a service portal, and often the first point of contact for residents and visitors alike. Yet many municipal websites fall short of their potential, creating unnecessary barriers between citizens and their government rather than eliminating them.
At Design Centered Co., we believe that truly effective municipal website design must be built upon a foundation of accessibility and inclusion. A municipal website that works for everyone—regardless of ability, device, language, or technical literacy—is not merely a legal requirement or a technical achievement; it is a profound expression of democratic values.
The Municipal Website Design Challenge
Municipal website development faces unique challenges that commercial websites rarely encounter. They must serve extraordinarily diverse audiences—from young families searching for recreation programs to seniors looking for property tax information, from new residents seeking building permits to long-time community members following council decisions. These audiences bring varying levels of technical proficiency, different devices, potential disabilities, and diverse language needs.
Furthermore, municipal websites and citizen portal designs must organize vast quantities of information spanning dozens of departments and services. They must balance immediate service needs (paying a water bill) with longer-term engagement (participating in community planning). And they must do all this while maintaining the highest standards of accuracy, security, and reliability—often with limited budgets and technical resources.
This complexity explains why so many municipal websites struggle. The typical symptoms are familiar: labyrinthine navigation structures reflecting internal departmental silos rather than citizen needs; outdated website designs that fail on mobile devices; PDFs that aren’t accessible to screen readers; complex language that confuses rather than clarifies; and frustrating user journeys that send citizens in circles.
A Human-Centered Approach to Public Sector Website Design
The solution to these challenges isn’t simply technical—it’s fundamentally human. At Design Centered Co., we approach municipal website development through a human-centered design methodology that places citizen needs at the core of every decision.
Our process begins not with templates or technology choices, but with deep research into how citizens actually use (or struggle to use) their municipal websites. We conduct extensive user research through multiple complementary methodologies:
- Contextual interviews with diverse community members, observing how they naturally interact with municipal services
- Usability testing of existing websites to identify pain points and opportunities
- Accessibility audits to ensure compliance with WCAG guidelines and true usability for people with disabilities
- Analytics review to understand actual usage patterns and abandoned journeys
- Stakeholder workshops to align internal teams around citizen-centered goals
This research reveals the genuine needs that must drive the design process. Only after we thoroughly understand these needs do we begin creating information architectures, interaction patterns, and visual designs—always testing our solutions with real citizens at every stage.
Five Pillars of Effective Municipal Website Design
Through our work within the public sector, we’ve identified five essential pillars that support truly effective municipal websites and citizen portal designs:
1. Inclusive Information Architecture for Citizen Portal Design
Information architecture—how content is organized, labeled, and connected—is the foundation of municipal website usability. For public sector websites, effective IA demands a user-centered approach that transcends internal organizational structures.
When we redesigned the website for a major Canadian public services organization, citizens were struggling with a navigation system. Finding information about a single topic—like applying for benefits—required visiting multiple links. Our research revealed that citizens think in terms of life events and tasks, not organizational charts.
Our solution was a task-focused architecture that grouped information around citizen goals rather than departments. We created intuitive pathways like “Benefits Estimator” that guided users through all relevant options, policies, and resources—regardless of which departments managed them. The result was a 43% improvement in task completion rates and a 37% reduction in calls to city hall for basic information.
2. Accessible, Responsive Municipal Website Design
Accessibility isn’t a technical checkbox—it’s a fundamental commitment to serving all citizens equally. Our public sector website design approach integrates accessibility throughout the design process, ensuring websites work for people with visual, hearing, motor, or cognitive disabilities.
For the major department in the Government of Canada, we created a design system that exceeded WCAG 2.1 AA standards while maintaining visual appeal. The system included:
- A color palette tested for sufficient contrast ratios
- Typography optimized for readability across devices
- Keyboard navigation patterns for motor-impaired users
- Screen reader-friendly markup and ARIA attributes
- Plain language standards for content creators
- Responsive layouts that functioned seamlessly across devices
This system not only ensured accessibility compliance but actually improved the experience for all users—proving that designing for inclusion creates better products for everyone.
3. Plain Language Content Strategy
Even the best-organized, most accessible website fails if its content is confusing or overwhelming. Municipal topics often involve complex regulations and processes, but citizens shouldn’t need specialized knowledge to understand them.
Our content strategy for public sector websites emphasizes:
- Plain language translations of technical or legal terminology
- Structured content patterns that highlight key information
- Progressive disclosure techniques that manage complexity
- Multilingual support for diverse communities
- Consistent voice and tone that builds trust
When working with Transport Canada on their Transportation Data and Information Hub (TDIH) website, we transformed complex transportation datasets and information into accessible, user-friendly resources. The project involved creating intuitive interfaces and visualizations for transportation data while ensuring the content remained accessible to citizens with varying technical literacy and background knowledge. The result was a 68% increase in public engagement with transportation data and numerous commendations from accessibility advocates.
4. Integrated Service Design
Modern municipal website development isn’t just information repositories—they’re service delivery platforms. Effective service design integrates digital and non-digital touchpoints into cohesive citizen journeys.
For one public sector client, we redesigned their permit application process through a holistic service design approach:
- We mapped the entire journey from initial research through application, payment, inspection, and approval
- We identified friction points where digital and in-person processes disconnected
- We designed an integrated system that maintained context across channels
- We implemented status tracking and notifications to keep citizens informed
This approach reduced permit processing times by 35% while significantly improving citizen satisfaction scores. Most importantly, it eliminated the common scenario where citizens began processes online only to become confused when transitioning to in-person steps.
5. Sustainable Governance Models
The best municipal websites evolve continuously based on citizen feedback and changing needs. This requires thoughtful governance structures that balance consistency with flexibility.
Our governance approach includes:
- Clear content ownership and maintenance responsibilities
- Distributed publishing workflows with centralized oversight
- Regular usability testing cycles to identify emerging issues
- Performance metrics tied to citizen outcomes, not just page views
- Training programs that build internal capacity
For one client, we established a cross-departmental digital governance committee with clear decision-making frameworks and measurement tools. This structure helped the client maintain consistency across departments while empowering teams to respond quickly to citizen needs.
The Technology Foundation: Choosing the Right CMS for Municipal Website Development
While technology should never drive a municipal website project, selecting the right content management system is critical to long-term success. The ideal CMS must balance ease of use for content creators with the flexibility to support complex municipal website design needs.
Our CMS selection process evaluates options against criteria including:
- Accessibility compliance features
- Multilingual support capabilities
- Workflow and approval processes
- Integration with existing municipal systems
- Security and compliance requirements
- Total cost of ownership (including maintenance)
- Availability of technical support resources
Through this process, we’ve guided municipalities toward sustainable technology choices that support their specific needs rather than forcing adaptation to platform limitations.
Case Study: Transport Canada's Transportation Data and Information Hub
A prime example of our approach to accessible, engaging digital experiences is our work with Transport Canada on their Transportation Data and Information Hub (TDIH) website. This federal initiative aimed to create an authoritative source of data and information about transportation in Canada, making complex transportation datasets accessible and meaningful to citizens, researchers, and policymakers.
The challenge was significant: transform vast quantities of technical transportation data into an accessible, multilingual digital experience that would serve diverse users with varying technical expertise. The project needed to meet the highest accessibility standards while making transportation data meaningful and actionable for different stakeholders.
Our approach integrated several key elements:
- User-centered information architecture that organized complex data according to user needs rather than internal structures
- Inclusive design patterns that made technical content accessible to users with disabilities
- Data visualization techniques that transformed abstract statistics into intuitive, interactive displays
- Bilingual content strategy that maintained technical accuracy across both official languages
- Scalable design system that accommodated diverse data types while maintaining consistent user experience
The results exceeded expectations across all metrics:
- 97% WCAG 2.1 AA compliance score
- 68% increase in public engagement with transportation data
- Increased interest from researchers, policymakers, and educational institutions
This project demonstrated how thoughtful, inclusive design could transform complex technical information into an accessible resource for all citizens—principles we apply to every public sector website we create.
The Human Element: Stakeholder Management and Project Success
Technical excellence alone doesn’t guarantee project success. Municipal website projects involve complex stakeholder ecosystems—elected officials, department heads, IT staff, communications teams, and citizens all have different priorities and perspectives.
Our project management approach emphasizes:
- Early stakeholder mapping to identify all relevant voices
- Collaborative workshops that build shared understanding
- Evidence-based decision frameworks that prevent subjective debates
- Regular demos and progress updates that maintain momentum
- Skills transfer that builds internal capability
This approach has allowed us to navigate politically complex environments while maintaining focus on citizen needs. By involving stakeholders appropriately throughout the process, we build the internal consensus necessary for long-term sustainability.
Moving Forward: Creating Your Citizen-Centered Municipal Website
A truly effective municipal website is never “finished”—it evolves continuously in response to changing citizen needs, new technologies, and emerging service opportunities. The most successful municipalities approach their public sector website design as ongoing investments in citizen relationships rather than one-time projects.
At Design Centered Co., we partner with municipalities throughout this journey, from initial research and strategy through municipal website design, implementation, and ongoing evolution. Our team brings deep expertise in public engagement, user research, interface design, information architecture, CMS selection, and project management—all focused on creating accessible, inclusive digital experiences that truly serve all citizens.
Is your municipality planning a website redesign or looking to improve your existing visitor and resident experience?
Our team will work with you to understand your specific goals and develop a tailored municipal website experience that meets the unique needs of your community. Contact us today or email our team your Request for Proposal (RDP) for your municipal website project.
