Sector(s)

Team Members

minneapolisdan, broeker, ec-adam, jumpsuitgreen, bnuebling

Visit the site

Visit the site

The Minnesota Office of Higher Education (OHE) is a cabinet-level state agency responsible for administering student financial aid and shaping higher education policy in Minnesota. Its website is the primary resource connecting students, families, and institutions with critical programs, including grants, loans, and scholarships.

About the project

Goals and Challenges

The legacy website had grown outdated and increasingly difficult to use. OHE faced several obstacles:

  • Complex navigation that made resources hard to find
  • Accessibility issues that risked compliance with WCAG 2.1
  • Limited editorial tools that slowed staff’s ability to update content

OHE needed a secure, accessible, and scalable platform that could serve diverse audiences and meet strict government standards.

Solutions

Electric Citizen led the redesign and rebuild on Drupal 11, creating a platform centered on accessibility, usability, and user engagement. Our work included:

  • A mobile-first, accessible design system with clear visual hierarchy and more modern look
  • A new, structured Drupal site, with content types for grants, loans, and resources, taxonomies for consistent categorization; and Views for flexible displays.
  • Analytics and third-party connections for improved event tracking
  • User testing around site navigation and page goals
  • Comprehensive review and remediation to meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards

Outcome

Post-launch, the new Drupal site delivered measurable gains: +8% average engagement time, +19% pages per session, +6% form submissions, and a +23% improvement in mobile performance. Editors now have a more sustainable CMS with greater control, and an award-winning site design. 

Why Drupal was chosen

We recommended Drupal for its strengths in accessibility, security, and flexibility — all essential for a state agency website. Drupal’s rich ecosystem of modules gave us the tools to quickly deliver features like structured content, improved search, and analytics integration, while still tailoring the platform to OHE’s specific needs.

Technical Specifications

Drupal version: