Canada Foundation for Innovation: An Innovative Digital Experience Focused on Canada’s Scientific Community

Goals

The CFI wanted to refresh the overall look and feel and information architecture of their website while bringing it in line with current best practices and accessibility standards. They also wanted to give their staff the ability to manage content and build new landing pages without the help of a web developer.

The website’s primary purpose is to streamline the application process to its funding programs. They also use the website to support users who are already funded, so they can find support materials for their projects. Evolving Web's goal as an agency partner was to better support these user journeys, while helping the public-at-large understand CFI’s purpose and impact. 

Challenges

On the previous version of the website, users found the funding opportunities challenging to navigate. The dense content and detailed information could be overwhelming for researchers and staff. And the website didn’t have an overview or search tool for CFI-funded projects across Canada. 

The challenge was to improve the user experience, without removing essential content that researchers rely on to apply for funding. Creating more user-centric navigation across the website and within each funding opportunity would be central to the success of the project.

Solutions

Evolving Web created a bold, fresh design for the CFI, which invites users to immerse themselves in the website and discover more about the organization and the funding programs. We created a more mobile-friendly, user-centred interface tailored to the personas identified during the discovery phase (researcher, CFI liaison, parliamentarian or office of elected official, international expert reviewer, and private sector representative). 

The key work for the CFI included:

• Redesign and re-platforming from Drupal 7 to the latest version of Drupal
• Reusable components for content editors to build pages easily with the same look and feel of the whole website
• Responsive image optimization: implementing a module that optimizes images automatically according to the screen sizes
• Compliance with WCAG 2.0 Level AA accessibility standards
• Apache Solr search for more accurate global search results
• An administrative interface optimized for content editors
• Use of plain language and breaking up of lengthy content pages
• New ‘Funded Projects & Results’ landing page with opportunities to see the outcomes of CFI’s commitment
• New ‘Apply & Manage Awards’ section, with entry points for researchers and step-by-step resources for easier navigation
• A new entry point for policymakers and potential reviewers via the Get Involved landing page
• A design focused on easy readability, with breathing room, white space, and larger fonts to help users engage with the content
• Editorial approach to the design, with big, bold headlines, larger set fonts, big images, and clean layouts to attract viewers
• Use of high-quality images to complement the brand and promote innovation
• A looping video on the homepage header creates an impact from the beginning of the experience

Results

As part of the upgrade, we migrated 1,500 pages and more than 7,000 files to the new Drupal platform. Visually, the new website captures users’ attention with engaging layouts, a visually appealing colour palette, modern fonts, and a dynamic design.

Our work resulted in a more helpful and impactful website, with intuitive information architecture, easy-to-use navigation, and user-centred content. The look and feel are up-to-date and position the CFI as an innovative institution and a leader in the field.