EDigiPolis
Building the digital foundation of a European research project.
Cargo
Creative Strategy · UX/UI Design · Information Architecture · Front-end Development · WordPress
Indústria
University Research
Duração
4 months
Overview
EDigiPolis is a European research project investigating youth democratic engagement and political education through digital tools.
When the project was funded, there was no digital presence, no website and no structured communication platform. The challenge was to design and build a scalable digital ecosystem capable of supporting the project's communication throughout its entire lifecycle.
The Opportunity
Rather than redesigning an existing website, this project started with a blank canvas.
The objective was to create a digital platform that would establish credibility from day one while remaining flexible enough to accommodate future publications, research outputs, events and partnerships.
Every design decision needed to balance scientific credibility with accessibility, ensuring that both academic and non-academic audiences could navigate the platform with ease.
My Role
I led the project from strategy to implementation, working independently throughout the entire process.
My responsibilities included defining the website strategy, structuring the information architecture, designing the interface, developing the website in WordPress and creating a scalable system that could evolve alongside the research project.
Responsibilities
Digital Strategy
UX Strategy
Information Architecture
UX/UI Design
WordPress Development
Front-end Development
Design System
Content Structure
Responsive Design
Discovery
Every successful project starts with understanding the problem.
Working closely with the research team, I began by identifying the project's objectives, communication priorities and long-term needs.
Instead of discussing visual preferences, the first conversations focused on understanding how the platform should support the project's growth over the coming years.
This discovery phase defined the foundation for every decision that followed.
Planning
Before opening Figma, I proposed a structured roadmap that organised the project into clear stages, from planning and design to development, testing and handover.
Creating this framework ensured that both the research team and I shared the same expectations regarding scope, deliverables and project milestones.
Early Exploration
With the project objectives defined, I created a series of low-fidelity prototypes in Figma.
These early explorations prioritised content hierarchy, navigation and information architecture rather than visual aesthetics.
Interactive prototypes were shared with the research team, allowing stakeholders to review the structure, validate priorities and provide feedback before development began.
Iteration
The first prototype became the starting point for a collaborative design process.
Feedback extended beyond layout decisions and helped redefine navigation, page hierarchy, interactions and content priorities.
By validating ideas early, major structural decisions could be refined before entering development.
Information Architecture
Designing the navigation meant organising a growing ecosystem rather than a collection of pages.
The information architecture was designed to support future publications, research outputs, events and institutional content while keeping navigation intuitive for very different audiences.
Designing for Multiple Audiences
The platform needed to communicate effectively with users who approached the project from different perspectives.
Audience | Primary Needs |
Researchers | Publications, research outputs and project information |
Students | Learning opportunities and participation |
Policymakers | Evidence, findings and impact |
Partners | Institutional information and collaboration |
General Public | Accessible understanding of the project |
This audience mapping directly influenced the navigation structure and content hierarchy.
Design System
Once the structure had been validated, I translated the project's visual identity into a flexible design system.
Typography, colour palette, spacing and reusable interface components were defined to ensure visual consistency across the platform while simplifying future updates.
Technical Challenge
One of the most significant challenges was the technical environment.
The University's WordPress installation didn't allow custom theme development, making a conventional implementation impossible.
Instead, I designed and developed the entire interface using modular custom HTML blocks inside WordPress, recreating the flexibility of a custom theme while working within the institution's technical constraints.
This modular approach allowed the website to remain consistent, maintainable and scalable without modifying the CMS itself.