Case study:

WordPress website rebuild for grassroots civic network

The project at a glance:

Client: Grassroots civic organising network
Service: WordPress website rebuild & redesign
Platform: WordPress with Divi
Timeline: January 2025–April 2026 (ongoing)
Goal: Transform a complex, expert-heavy website into an accessible platform that attracts and engages new members in civic action
Team: Sandrine (strategy, messaging, copywriting, UX), Mellissa (WordPress/Divi implementation), Flavia (customer journeys and email setup)

Side-by-side comparison of the old and new Indivisible Hawaiʻi State Network websites, showing the updated design and layout

What wasn’t working

Our assessment

The solution

Indivisible Hawaiʻi Statewide Network (IHSN) came to us with a problem many grassroots organisations face: they had incredible expertise, passionate volunteers, and successful campaigns – but their website wasn't helping them reach new people or engage much of their existing followers.

The existing site had grown organically over time as volunteers added content. It worked well enough for people already involved in the organisation, but for most others, it was overwhelming and hard to navigate.

They had multiple initiatives running simultaneously: influencing state legislation, organising around primary elections, fighting ICE enforcement, coordinating events across a dozen local chapters. But the website was turning away the exact people they needed most: everyday Hawaiʻi residents who care about issues, but don't know how to get involved or don't think they could make a difference.

As we reviewed the site, we identified several patterns that weren’t working:

Missing context. Content (often written by subject matter experts) would dive straight into the details, often using jargon or referring to complex systems or processes without explaining them. Visitors unfamiliar with civics and politics were missing the foundational context they needed to understand why and how they could take action.

Academic writing on a medium built for skimming. Much of the content read like academic papers: long paragraphs, dense sentences, abstract concepts. Even when it’s meant for smart people, website content needs to be scannable and easy to read/process – especially on mobile phones.

Insider framing instead of visitor-first language. The copy was written from the organisation's perspective, not the visitor's. Success was measured in effort (how many people showed up to a protest, how many postcards were sent, how many testimonies were submitted) rather than outcomes. People considering action want to know what all that effort accomplishes, and whether joining actually leads to results.

Unclear pathways for visitors. The homepage tried to hold everything together at once and became a mess of competing calls to action. Most menu items were external links leading to third-party donation or event sites rather than actual site pages. The wording often didn't match what was actually behind the link. In other words: visitors wouldn’t know what to click first, and when they did, they’d often end up confused.

Navigation reflected organisational structure, not user needs. The menu mirrored how the team thought about their work internally, which made sense to insiders but confused anyone trying to find specific information or understand what the network actually offered.

They had the expertise and the passion, but the website wasn't doing its job of making civic engagement feel accessible and achievable for regular people.

We decided on a full WordPress rebuild with Divi. The priorities for this rebuild were:

Make it easier for visitors to take action by making content easier to skim and read, providing explainers, creating clear pathways for different user intents, and streamlining calls to action.
Improve visibility and accessibility: Better SEO (search engine optimisation) so the website shows up in related searches (not just when people search for “Indivisible Hawaii”) and GEO (generative engine optimisation) to help AI tools understand what Indivisible is all about, and reflect that information in their answers.
Make it easier for contributors to add content. Build flexible infrastructure using custom post types (reusable templates for items like events, chapters, and news) so volunteers can update information without breaking the site structure.
Shift to user-first framing. Keep the passion and urgency, but make visitors the protagonists - make them part of the organisation’s story.

The process, step by step

Step 1: Discovery & strategy

We had an initial discovery call in January 2025 to understand the organisation. During that call, we asked them to conduct an internal content review and provide us with as much input and existing content as they had. We agreed on four weeks to pull that together.
We got to work in February, reviewing their input and discussing it over the course of several video calls. This meant understanding not just what they wanted on the website, but what they were actually trying to accomplish. What should happen when someone visits the elections page? How does “shaping public policy” work in practice? How do statewide initiatives differ from chapter-level organising?
We also identified which initiatives needed their own campaign pages and what language they wanted to use or avoid.
Step 2: Visual style

Indivisible Hawaiʻi Statewide Network is part of the national Indivisible movement: they had existing branding to work with, but we adapted these so the site would feel distinctly Hawaiʻi.
We also discussed how to handle imagery; while most of the available images were taken at protests and rallies, those were usually organised by local chapters - the umbrella network (= the website we were building) focuses on other types of civic engagement, like submitting testimony during the legislative session, and keeping Hawaiʻi representatives accountable. This needed to be reflected in the visuals (images and videos) we’d use.
Step 3: Content strategy
Before we could write content and build templates, we needed to understand what content actually existed and what we'd need to create from scratch.

This phase involved:
- Setting up custom post types: we built templates for chapters and events, and created temporary content for those using information from various sources including the current website and the chapters’ social media accounts. That way, we’d be able to show chapter leads and event organisers how things could work - and collect their feedback and additional input at a later stage.
- Writing resources - explainers to provide the missing context: how bills move through the legislature, how elections work in Hawaiʻi, what submitting testimony is for, and how regular people can influence public policy and even elections - if they take collective action.
- Building the main pages: we puzzled together information from the current website (often written by subject matter experts) with information gathered during and after our initial discovery sessions, and rewrote for clarity, accessibility, and user-first framing – keeping the expertise but making it understandable.
Step 4: Website wireframe

Once we had a sense of the content and structure, we built a “skeleton” of the entire site for the communications committee to review.
This wireframe showed how the navigation would work, what would appear on each page, how template posts and pages would display, and where different content feeds would surface. It gave the team a chance to see the full structure before we invested in design and imagery – and to approve (or request changes to) the content and organisation.
We worked through feedback from multiple stakeholders during this phase, which meant some back-and-forth as different groups weighed in on messaging and priorities.
Step 5: Design

With the wireframe approved, we moved into the visual buildout: adding images and polishing each page.
This phase also involved final feedback from the communications committee. We conducted staging site walkthroughs, using Loom videos for asynchronous review, and made adjustments as we received comments and additional input.
By the end of this phase, we had final approval on the first iteration of the website. While this is not the final final version, it’s a complete, functional site that is significantly better than what was currently live - and we decided to launch this version. Waiting weeks or months for contributors to send us their feedback or input would have meant keeping a broken site online when we already had something functional ready to go.
Step 6: Development
Making the site look right is one thing; making it actually work is another.
This phase involved:
- Responsiveness across devices and browsers. We built the website mostly working from our laptops, but the site also needed to work on phones, tablets, and large desktops – and look good in Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and everything else.
- Accessibility improvements. Proper heading hierarchy, alt text for images, sufficient colour contrast, keyboard navigation support.
- Third-party integrations. Connecting email signup forms, ensuring Mobilize events would pull in correctly, and checking donation links.
- Working out glitches. Any rebuild comes with unexpected issues – broken links, feed filters that don't quite work, layouts that need tweaking. This phase was about catching and fixing those before launch.
Step 7: First launch
Rather than waiting until every piece of content was perfect and every future feature was built, we launched the first iteration of the site in late April 2026.
This version is already a massive improvement over the existing site: straightforward navigation, clear language, functional event listings, chapter pages with up-to-date information.
Launching now gives the team two things they need:
1. A working platform for current initiatives. We expect the new site to yield immediate results for upcoming elections, public policy work, and events.
2. Time and space for content review. Subject matter experts and volunteer contributors can now take their time reviewing pages, adding resources, collecting pictures, creating videos, and making adjustments without the pressure of holding up the entire launch.

What’s next?

Immediate next steps (post-launch phase)

With the first iteration live, our focus shifts to two new priorities:

Additional functionality. Several features were scoped for post-launch implementation, like an interactive map, and advanced filtering options for some of the content. More ideas emerged throughout the project; we’ll work with the leadership team to prioritise which additions make sense to implement next.

Content review and refinement. Now that IHSN members can see the full site in context, they'll review pages within their areas of expertise and make adjustments. Volunteer contributors will add resources, update chapter pages, and keep event listings current.

Guiding collaborators. As team members learn to use the new system, we'll provide training, answer questions, and help troubleshoot. This is especially important for an all-volunteer organisation where technical comfort levels vary widely.

Long-term vision

The ultimate goal is for Indivisible Hawaiʻi State Network to have a website that grows with them as their campaigns evolve and their membership expands.

The infrastructure we've built (with custom post types, flexible page templates, clear content hierarchy) means they can launch new initiatives, add more resources, and respond to political developments without breaking the site structure and hurting accessibility, SEO, or GEO.

More importantly, the shift to accessible, user-first language means the site can finally do what it's supposed to: convert concern into action. When someone searches for ways to make a difference, this site will give them a clear answer and easy next steps.

The expertise was always there, and now it's finally accessible to the outside world.