Cook County
Cook County is a large and complex metropolitan area spanning the city of Chicago and its suburbs.
The Challenge
One of the main challenges was how to organize the Cook County bureaus, agencies, and departments, as well as provide information for departments that were related to the County but not an official department.
Our Approach
One of the main challenges was how to organize the Cook County bureaus, agencies, and departments, as well as provide information for departments that were related to the County but not an official department.
Quick Links
The main bureau, agency or department page has resources to download, quick links, and related news and events
Sidebars
The main pages have a sidebar with easily accessible links to relevant sub departments
Additional Resources
Off-site departments are searchable and visible through the Cook County website, but made clear users would go offsite.
Results
We created a site that brought the County into the 21st century without leaving any constituents behind.
The site was designed with repetition in mind, so you can find services and departments in a number of different ways, including from the home page, menus, search, and lists of departments. While we didn’t want to make it hard to find obscure things, we did focus on pleasing the majority by presenting the top things users did first. Once users find the department or service they are looking for, the information is presented in a helpful and straightforward way.
In the end, the new Cook County website met the goals of organizing County agencies, bureaus, and departments in an intuitive way while getting people to the information they need as quickly and clearly as possible.
