Denver Water

Denver Water, Colorado’s oldest and largest water utility, wanted to rebuild their online presence as part of their quest to become one of the nation’s leading water utilities. Their old site was causing user frustration and lacked key functionality to deliver essential information and the modern look and feel that they wanted. Unsure where to begin or why their users were encountering issues, they partnered with I.F. to dig into their audiences’ habits and needs. 

Deep research for lasting solutions 

Before touching a line of code, we began our work for Denver Water with extensive research. In addition to gathering Voice of Citizen® user data, I.F.’s research team conducted numerous interviews with internal and external stakeholders and conducted three rounds of user testing, including with actual Denver residents. The results suggested that one of the site’s biggest problems stemmed from its information architecture, which collapsed two separate audiences—residential and commercial—into one. 

Armed with this and many other key pieces of data from our research, we began creating a new vision for Denver Water. We separated residential and commercial pathways, added new functionality for delivering updates on important projects like the utility’s lead reduction program, and developed a bold, fresh design that supports ease of use without sacrificing visual appeal. Our developers also incorporated an advanced Drupal 8 caching system that dramatically lowers page load times and set up single sign-on access to allow Denver Water’s internal users to easily manage features and information across the site. The end result is a site that boasts improved user success and satisfaction rates for both residential and commercial customers and has improved the utility’s internal workflows. And our continued partnership has enabled Denver Water to continue adding features and functionality that further enrich their users’ experience.

Success factors 

• Single sign-on for decreased user frustration 
• Audience-oriented information architecture
• Custom CSV importer
• Continuous improvements to user-valued content 

Innovation in action: Animated daily data

The Recreation section of the website is a powerful showcase for natural areas Denver Water is responsible for. It features a "by-the-numbers" metrics area and an animated percentage full infographic that pulls data daily. Additionally, it shows the activities available, maps, directions and rules and regulations for each recreational area.