Vancouver Public Library

Our Web Services team wanted to create an online experience that employed user-centred design principles and modern web design practices. Our vision was to have “an inclusive place where people can easily discover and access the library information and services they need.”

The Vancouver Public Library needed to migrate its virtual branch from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9 as the existing software was nearing end of life. On top of that, the library went through a brand refresh during the COVID-19 pandemic and the website's visual design needed to be updated to be more in line with the updated brand guidelines.

Having been part of the team that worked on the original move to a responsive Drupal website in 2015, much of the research and planning revolved around offering a seamless switchover, with as much of the site's existing content and visual presentation remaining intact.

The Digital Experience Team, comprised of web librarians, technician and designers like myself, worked with an external vendor on the migration. One of the few things our team redesigned from the ground up was the menu system, revising the information architecture display on both desktop and mobile. We changed the typeface to one that was able to support the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), a move to support Coast Salish languages that also aided in making our pages easier to read. I also created a robust library of images and icons that expanded upon what was already in use for print applications.