Website Redesign for a Council of Governments in Southeast Ohio

Buckeye Hills Regional Council is a council of governments (COG) dedicated to improving the lives of residents in Southeast Ohio. By working collaboratively with elected officials across Athens, Hocking, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Noble, Perry, and Washington counties, they grow strong communities through their four divisions: Aging & Health, Home Care, Community Development, and Planning. The COG needed a new website and hosting solutions to replace an outdated setup. Every website our team builds goes through an extensive website design process. This project was no different. During kickoff, we set up project management tools, organized shared folders, aligned communication channels, and confirmed responsibilities with the client’s team. In discovery, we conducted a structured review of all existing content, design assets, audience needs, and compared direct and indirect competitors to identify patterns that would guide the new site’s design and structure. Our research informed the information architecture, content hierarchy, and early navigation drafts. We grounded the design direction in real user behavior rather than assumptions.

As we entered the design and development process, we provided design deliverables in stages. Each deliverable was opportunity for the client to provide feedback and ask questions. As we received that feedback we integrated it into our solution and provided the client with the revisions to review again. Once we had sign-off on the design, we began development. The goal of development is to deliver a fully functional website that matches the approved design. Our team focuses on four core principles: usability, accessibility, scalability, and maintainability. Scalability is critical part of our website design and development service for the quasi-government organizations. During an extensive QA phase at the end of development, our team completes device testing, browser compatibility checks, and accessibility audits. Our approach to the website project life cycle ensured that the Buckeye Hill Regional Council’s website was complete, approved by leadership, and ready to go live on launch day.

One of the main challenges of the project was to build a complete directory system for service providers and database for funding opportunities. Our team created custom integration solutions to merge service provides into the COG’s constant contact, allowing them to prompt service providers to update their listing. Additionally, we create a custom print solution that made it easy for staff to print off a filtered list of service providers. Our team was ready to provide different platform integration options for the council of governments. Our chosen solutions were grounded in our user research and discovery phases of the project.

When projects require more specialized integrations, such as directories or funding opportunities, we build custom solutions that allow our clients to easily use their preferred services right on the website.We made it simple for the team to manage these listings. This included mapping data fields, validating content structures, and ensuring each integration met accessibility, security, and performance requirements. The result was a connected system where the external platforms functioned as part of a unified website ecosystem.

We typically provide hosting services across two primary environments: the development environment and the live website.

During development, we set up a dedicated staging environment that mirrors the production hosting setup, allowing Buckeye Hill’s team to review features, test content, and check functionality before launch. This environment includes isolated databases, controlled code deployments, and performance monitoring so potential issues can be identified early. Throughout the build, we managed the configuration, caching strategy, and asset optimization to ensure the site would perform reliably once moved to production.

For the live website, our team handled the full deployment process, including DNS updates, domain connections, SSL activation, and final server-level optimizations. We coordinated closely with the client’s IT and leadership teams to ensure a smooth transition with minimal downtime. After launch, we verified that all integrations, analytics tools, and platform connections were functioning correctly in the live environment. Our regional planning agency hosting services are designed to provide peace of mind, so teams can focus on their mission while we handle performance, security, and reliability.

The Buckeye Hills had already completed a major branding refresh a few years earlier. We aligned the website’s visual identity with the Buckeye Hill’s brand to create a consistent experience across all platforms. Our team created a unified design system, pairing the logo with appropriate colors, typography, iconography, and layouts so they flowed seamlessly throughout the new website. As part of the project, we provided comprehensive graphic design services for the regional planning agency, auditing existing brand assets, colors, and typography to ensure they met accessibility standards and maintained high visual quality across devices. In addition to the website design, we supported image optimization, image editing, and graphic design needs.

By developing the website’s design system in close coordination with the overall brand identity, we ensured users experienced a unified and recognizable brand,  whether they engaged with the organization online, on social media, in print, or through other communications.

To keep ongoing support simple and effective, we gave Buckeye Hills Regional Council direct access to our team through email for documentation, chat for quick questions, and Zoom for more in-depth discussions. Shared project spaces and scheduled check-ins made it easy for their team to request updates, track progress, and get timely answers. We make website support and maintenance simple for regional planning agencies.

Our support continued well beyond launch. We provided clear documentation and hands-on training so the team could confidently post and manage content. The same experts who designed and built the website remain responsible for ongoing updates, ensuring consistency and quality. Every project includes a comprehensive support package covering security updates, plugin and theme maintenance, uptime monitoring, and performance checks. We ensure the website remains stable as new content is added, pages are modified, and code dependencies receive updates.