Urban Institute
Bringing a new strategic vision online
When a research organization launches a new strategic framework, the digital experience must be ready to carry it.
Urban Institute is a trusted think tank advancing data-driven policy solutions across the country. We have worked with Urban for years, first for a single site engagement, then as an extension of their digital team, so when they prepared to roll out Elevate, their new strategic framework, they turned to us to help translate that vision into a unified digital experience.
Urban’s research is well respected, but their story wasn't consistently connecting with audiences, and their digital tools weren't keeping pace with where the organization was headed.
Urban needed a partner that could work across brand, content, and technology without losing the thread.
What we did
- Brand strategy
- Digital strategy
- Drupal
- Email design
- Information architecture
- Social media design
- Taxonomy
- UX
- Visual design
- Website design
The focus
Urban’s research spans a wide range of critical topics including taxes, education, and housing. To support their expertise and authority, we extended the Elevate framework to the digital space to bring consistency to their content, visibility to their site, and speed to their publishing process.
Our strategy
We started with the story Urban was trying to tell, then worked outward into the systems that needed to support it.
Grounding the brand in Elevate. Urban launched Elevate to clarify how they talk about their mission and impact. We worked closely with their team to build a brand system aligned to that framework, including a messaging manual, visual style guide, and flexible social media and email design templates. Urban kept its core visual identity but now shows up in a way that feels more unified and intentional.
Sharpening the digital experience. Urban's website had a strong foundation but wasnt reflecting their new priorities or user needs. We focused on updates that delivered immediate value: a redesigned homepage, optimized donation flow, streamlined newsletter sign-up, and restructured taxonomy aligned with their new divisions and practice areas.
Building a microsite system that scales. Urban produces a wide range of research and partner-driven initiatives, and their content management system needed to support that pace. We developed a custom microsite builder within their existing Drupal CMS, supporting multiple navigation levels, subdomain options, and content flexibility, all while preserving brand consistency. Teams can now launch new initiatives quickly, without development bottlenecks.
Bringing their data to life. Urban's findings resonate deeply when audiences can explore them, so our team built sophisticated custom data visualizations into their EDA microsite, turning dense datasets into something readers can navigate.
This was a daunting task and could've been a huge mess. But we could not have picked a better partner to help us realize this work.
Urban Institute stakeholder
The results
What began as a single site engagement with Urban Institute has grown into a multi-year partnership spanning Urban's brand system, publishing infrastructure, data visualization work, and community platforms for their vaccine equity and mobility initiatives.
Urban's teams now launch new work on systems built and equipped to hold all of it, and our team continues to advise as the portfolio grows. Most importantly, our work helped Urban Institute show up as a unified, credible voice so that their research could reach and resonate with the audiences who need it most.
Wilson Center
