Washington State DES Website Redesign, Phase I

The Washington State Department of Enterprise Services (DES) website (des.wa.gov) provides centralized business services to state government agencies and to Washington residents. Customers come to the DES website to search for bid opportunities, find training, and public support services.

In 2011, DES merged with five other agencies and expanded their service offerings. The website did not mature with the agency and customers had difficulty understanding the breadth of services DES offers, and how to engage with them.

Hearing the frustration from customers, DES approached Anthro-Tech with an interest in redesigning its website to improve usability for diverse audience groups, better accomplish business objectives, give the site a more modern look and feel, and develop a future-forward strategy to help the agency stay current with customer needs.

The new mobile-friendly and accessible website ensures customers can easily find, understand, and use information. Based on research with multiple audience groups, we designed a new Information Architecture that surfaces the products and services DES offers in a global navigation.

We took a deep dive into the large amount of content from the merging of agencies. By plain talking content, clear calls-to-action were put in place that spell out how customers can engage with DES.

Our team applied new branding including a new voice and tone and visual design. This gives the DES website a visually cohesive brand that articulates the different services offered under one look and feel. The website now tells the story of their brand and the value it has for customers.

Phase 1 of the DES website launched and received much praise for its simplicity and ease of use. With the massive reduction in content, coupled with designing content in a way that makes sense for completing top tasks, customers are now able to find and understand the services DES offers.

With the ability self-serve, customers have control over their experience. This saves both the agency and the customers time and effort and increases the trust and satisfaction with DES.