services Live
Economic Architecture Project
UX redesign, creative strategy workshops, and site enhancements for the Economic Architecture Project. This case study should focus less on a single visual deliverable and more on the strategic process: aligning stakeholders, improving the site experience, and translating complex policy and economic ideas into clearer digital pathways.
The problem
How do we design an Understand section that gives multiple audiences their Aha! moment?
Complex policy and economic ideas needed a clearer way in for people arriving with different levels of context and different reasons for being there.
The answer
A direction built around the people using it.
Economic Architecture is a podcast and media project focused on building public understanding of economic systems and policy. Growing an audience for policy content requires more than good ideas - it requires infrastructure that meets listeners where they are, in the format that works for them.
The challenge was to build a podcast website that did not just host audio, but created an accessible, multi-format content experience that could grow an audience, serve listeners in their preferred format, generate analytics for smarter promotional decisions, and qualify for Google Ad Grant funding with specific site-performance standards.
Concepts and drafts
Making the direction visible before it is final.
The early work centered on platform testing: understanding where the podcast could build reach and how listeners were actually engaging. I built a custom WordPress plugin that combined audio players, accessible episode transcripts, and analytics tracking.
That system lets every listener choose the format that works for them, while staff can automate episode publishing without manual intervention. It also created the evidence needed to guide the next phase of growth.
Exploring the solution
Testing the details that turn an idea into an experience.
I redesigned key parts of the site structure to meet Google Ad Grant site-speed requirements, unlocking a meaningful source of promotional funding. When the team was ready to plan the next phase, I designed and led a UX workshop, then custom-coded new PHP templates from the results.
The podcast scaled to thousands of weekly listeners within six months of launch. The automated publishing system has run without maintenance since launch, and the site continues to grow.