A person who gets things done.
Marketing and Communications Leader
As webmaster I managed backend maintenance and front end design. Working within the confines of an older platform while managing the redevelopment of the next site.
Web Design
Turning complex ideas into scannable accessible content.
Frequently organizations need to communicate what they do to those who may be unfamiliar with their work. Starting with an audience who 'knows nothing' can impact how we present information.
In the example below I walk through choices I made in the design of the State Legislation page.
Both the Image and Title are clickable.
The Public Housing Access Bill (PHAB) created standards for Illinois Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) to use in the criminal background screening process, improving equity and access to affordable housing for individuals with criminal records. The current legislation will clarify data collection and the programs covered by PHAB.
Sponsors: Sen. Belt, Sen. Peters, and Sen. Simmons
Update: June 9, 2023 – Signed Into Law
Regularly updating how far the bill has progressed.
A brief overview of what the Bill does.
How Legislation Moves Through Springfield
Once a bill is introduced in the House and/or Senate it must be assigned to a committee, where it will be discussed till the committee decides it is ready to pass. After the committee the bill will move to the floor where the entire House/Senate will discuss, amend, and hopefully pass it. This process is repeated in the next chamber, and once it passes through both the House and Senate the Governor will be able to sign it to law.
We have created the above graphic to help guide how legislation will progress, you can see an updated version of this graphic for each of our legislative items on their details page.
Explaining the process in text and via images supports different learning styles.
Each Bill Landing Page Features:
Title
Description
Sponsors
Progress Bar Graphic
Update
Tracking Link / Full Text Link
Witness Slips (Take Action)
Return to State Legislation Page
Considerations
Primary Audiance
Each year the team would send grassroots leaders and schools to Springfield, IL to lobby these bills at the capital. These audiences would have little to no experience with state legislation, so providing bite sized summaries and explanatory graphics allowed their lobby days to be more effective.
I received positive feedback from teachers that this page was helpful in preparing students.
Mantanence
The page did require regular updates to stay accurate. By scheduling a weekly work block to review any notes from the state team, or changes on the state website the updates on this page were made more manageable.
Secondary Audiance
The State Legislation team also had many allies in Springfield who would regularly check the website to know what CCH was working on.
By listing the current sponsors, committee and hearing updates, and linking to the state website listing the webpage allowed legislators to step in and support the passing of bills more easily.
Resilience
This website was built on an older format of WordPress through a custom theme that limited the features and functions available.
With patience and flexibility this page was made to fit within the confines of the website. It allowed the team to explore new ideas of information sharing as they conducted the design of a new site.