Background
georgia.gov is the main website for the state of Georgia. Each year, about 4.5 million people visit the site, accounting for almost 16 million page views. On the site, citizens can browse the site by topic and find links to information on other state websites, or search for the information they’re looking for.
The site went live in 2002; but with the exception of a refresh in 2006, it’s never had a major redesign. Ever.
A lot has changed in 10 years. We’ve seen the invention of Facebook, Twitter, the iPod, iPhone and iPad, but georgia.gov has stayed essentially the same. In fact, it’s gotten more crowded with information - not the type of message taxpayers want.
Back in 2002, we built the site to be like the old Yahoo - just click around, and you’ll eventually find what you’re looking for. But state government is too big for that, and as Google replaced Yahoo as the tool of choice for web surfers, we knew we had to totally rethink georgia.gov.
