Case study

MIT Policies and Procedures

Client: MIT Office of the President

Services: visual design, editorial review, development (Drupal Cloud), client training, project management

The existing MIT Policies and Procedures website was more than ten years old and built using outdated techniques. The design was not compliant with current MIT graphic identity standards and not usable on mobile devices.

The site’s most significant challenge was it’s content structure of 14 main sections with very long titles. The old site’s navigation was cumbersome to use and occupied a large portion of every page’s interface. Worst of all, any update to any of the 14 sections required html updates to the nav file on every page, a labrious and error-prone process.

The new site collapsed a full-width menu into a single mobile-menu-style bar, making every section accessible without obscuring content. In addition, a parallel system using collapsing panels on the homne page allowed users familiar with the old site an easy way into every section of the new site’s content.

The content had been revised by various authors over the years and did not have a consistent house style. Editorial expert Kris Bierfelt was contracted to review all the content and made extensive and valuable recommendations to tone and voice as well as linking and reference conventions.