LAGUNA WOODS VILLAGE

BACKGROUND

Laguna Woods Village, nestled in Southern California, is a thriving community for active adults aged 55 and older. Spanning 2,095 acres, the Village is home to over 18,500 residents. For decades, the community has prided itself on providing unparalleled opportunities for connection, exploration, and enriched living. However, by 2023, its aging website no longer adequately served its residents or management team.

Recognizing the need for modernization, the Golden Rain Foundation of Laguna Woods sought a design and development partner to create a new website that would enhance usability, streamline operations, and align with the Village’s vision for the future. 

THE CHALLENGE

The Laguna Woods Village website faced several significant issues, including:

Outdated Design and Technology: The existing website was neither visually engaging nor aligned with the Village’s brand identity. It lacked mobile responsiveness, a critical feature for today’s users, particularly seniors who increasingly rely on tablets and smartphones. Additionally, the outdated technology platform made content management cumbersome and limited scalability for future needs.

Poor User Experience and Navigation: Residents found it challenging to locate information due to the site’s cluttered structure. Navigation was unintuitive, and the content was inconsistently organized, making the site frustrating for users with varying levels of digital literacy.

Accessibility Gaps: As an age-restricted community, accessibility was a paramount concern. The site did not comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), creating barriers for users with disabilities or limited digital proficiency.

Fragmented Features and Content Management: Critical functionalities, such as event calendars, club pages, and governance documents, were fragmented across multiple systems. This not only confused users but also increased administrative workloads.

Diverse User Needs: The existing website struggled to cater to the two primary audiences: prospective residents exploring the community and current residents seeking easy access to services, events, and resources. Balancing the needs of these groups posed a design and content challenge.

Disparate Systems: The existing site had several disparate external systems that did not integrate or communicate with one another including Granicus, Microsoft Dynamics, TeamUp and the Village's resident portal.

THE SOLUTION

Urban Insight and Laguna Woods Village employed a structured approach rooted in best practices for user-centered design, accessibility, and scalable technology.

1. Research-Driven Discovery as the Foundation
Urban Insight began by conducting workshops, stakeholder interviews, and user research to understand the community’s needs. Ten residents and six employees participated in interviews, supplemented by an online survey targeting additional feedback. Key findings included:

• Residents prioritized ease of navigation to reach their desired information on the website, intuitive search capabilities, and a mobile-friendly interface.
• Prospective residents sought engaging content about amenities, activities, and community demographics.
• Accessibility and inclusivity were critical across all demographics.
• These insights informed the creation of user personas and journey maps, which guided subsequent design and development decisions.

2. User-Centered Design
Urban Insight employed several best practices to ensure an exceptional user experience during design:

• User Testing: Incorporating resident feedback through usability testing allowed the team to refine designs iteratively. This approach minimized assumptions and ensured user-centric outcomes.
• Simplified Navigation: A new information architecture was developed, featuring streamlined menus and intuitive labels. Residents could quickly locate services, while prospective residents were guided through an engaging exploration of the community.
• Responsive Design: The site was designed for optimal performance across devices, catering to the increasing number of tablet and smartphone users among the senior demographic.
• Accessible Interface: Accessibility was treated as a core requirement, not an afterthought to meet WCAG AA compliance. Features like adjustable font sizes, high-contrast modes, and keyboard navigation support ensured inclusivity.
• Compelling Visuals: Modern, clean design elements, paired with high-quality imagery of the Village’s stunning landscape and amenities, reflected the Village’s vibrant lifestyle.

3. Scalable Technology Platform
Urban Insight selected WordPress for its flexibility, scalability, and user-friendly content management. The platform was optimized to support:

• Content Migration: A streamlined process for transferring 4,000 pages of legacy content.
• Unified Events Calendar: A centralized system to consolidate community events from various sources to display and highlight exciting activities happening at the Village.
• OCR Scan of PDFs: Implemented a system using Optical Character Recognition to scan all PDFs to ensure all text (including unreadable text content) is scanned and indexed for search.
• Multilingual Features: Future-proofing efforts included evaluating multilingual options, laying the groundwork for expanding support for non-English-speaking residents.
• Integration Capabilities: Seamless connections with Granicus, Microsoft Dynamics, and the resident portal.
• Search Engine Optimization: Enhancing metadata, alt text, and structured data optimized the site for search engines, contributing to the 26% increase in organic traffic year over year post-launch.

4. Single Sign-On (SSO) Integration
Recognizing the complexity of managing multiple systems, we implemented SSO functionality, allowing residents to use a single set of credentials across platforms. This solution not only reduced the cognitive load for users through enhanced convenience but also strengthened data security.

5. Content Strategy and Optimization
To better serve diverse audiences and deal with the overwhelming volume of information, Urban Insight and Laguna Woods Village developed a robust content strategy:

• Targeted Landing Pages: Prospective residents were greeted with engaging, demographic-focused content, while current residents accessed tailored resources via a dedicated portal.
• Enhanced Search Functionality: A faceted search engine enabled users to filter results by categories, such as club pages, documents, and news.
• Content Hierarchy: Key resources were prioritized to reduce user frustration and make the most relevant easily accessible.

CONCLUSION & KEY RESULTS

The redesign delivered measurable improvements across multiple metrics, highlighting the success of our approach, and Urban Insight and Laguna Woods Village partnership on the redesign:

• New users increased by 33% indicating the new site’s effectiveness in attracting prospective residents and other first-time visitors.
• Improved SEO best practices and enhanced content boosted organic search traffic resulted in a 26% growth in organic search traffic.
• Overall site traffic grew by 34%.
• Engaged Sessions soared by 86% and engagement rate increased by 38% underscoring the effectiveness of the new design and content strategy.

Our redesign of the Laguna Woods Village website exemplifies how thoughtful digital transformation can elevate user experiences, streamline operations, and achieve strategic goals. By combining user-centered design, accessibility, and modern technology, the project not only met current needs but also positioned the Village for future growth.

The results—higher traffic, increased engagement, and improved usability—validate the effectiveness of the approach. More importantly, the website now serves as a valuable resource for residents and prospective members alike, embodying Laguna Woods Village’s commitment to fostering a vibrant, connected community.