Reflecting Excellence: Aleut Federal’s UX-Led Website Redesign

OVERVIEW

How can we make it easier for users to see the high level of work Aleut Federal delivers for its customers?

Aleut Federal’s public-facing website no longer reflected the strength of its reputation or the needs of its most important audiences—federal agency decision-makers exploring potential contracting partners and job seekers evaluating career opportunities.

While the company’s reputation for quality and mission-driven work remained strong, the website's outdated structure, fragmented navigation, and limited flexibility made it difficult for users to find information or understand the full scope of Aleut’s capabilities.

The redesign set out to modernize the experience, strengthen Aleut’s digital credibility, and transition the site from WordPress to a more robust and scalable Drupal platform—creating a foundation that better supports both user needs and business goals.

Following launch, the new site achieved measurable gains in engagement—including a 15% drop in bounce rate and a 5% increase in time on site—signaling that users were finding what they needed more easily and staying longer.

collage of redesign screens
Redesigned Aleut Federal web pages highlighting a modernized interface, streamlined navigation, and improved content hierarchy

  • Company

    Aleut Federal

  • Role

    Lead UX Architect & Researcher

  • Team

    Lead Strategist/Product Owner, Graphic Designer, BE and FE Drupal Developers, QA, PM, and product stakeholders.

THE CHALLENGE

While Aleut Federal’s reputation for quality and reliability was strong, its website created barriers to engagement:

  • Outdated design and fragmented navigation made it difficult for users to find core capabilities or contact points.

  • Key differentiators—like 8(a) direct award advantages and niche expertise in Cyber and Cloud—were buried or unclear.

  • Limited editorial flexibility hindered content updates and storytelling.

  • Inconsistent UI patterns and a disappearing main menu reduced trust and usability.

The challenge was to reimagine the site’s structure and visual identity so it reflected Aleut’s capabilities and credibility.

"Modernizing Aleut Federal’s digital presence meant more than a redesign—it was about making their reputation visible online."

DISCOVERY AND RESEARCH

Stakeholder Interviews and Affinity Mapping

Conversations across departments revealed consistent pain points: content existed but was hard to find, the brand’s credibility wasn’t reflected online, and navigation created friction in key user journeys.

Key insights included:

  • Right content, wrong structure. Users couldn’t easily locate information about capabilities, past performance, or differentiators.
  • Navigation friction. Disappearing menus, inconsistent labels, and buried contact forms created unnecessary obstacles.

infinity map thubmnail
Affinity map created in Optimal Workshop from stakeholder interviews, intentionally blurred to protect participant input.

Comparative Analysis

A review of peer and industry websites validated the same challenges uncovered in stakeholder research and provided a benchmark for usability and content clarity.

This analysis reinforced the need for a modern, intuitive, and visually engaging experience that clearly communicates Aleut’s strengths.

These insights confirmed the direction for the redesign and helped shape a focused roadmap that balanced immediate usability wins with scalable improvements for future iterations.

Key Opportunities:

  • Modernize the interface to increase engagement and credibility
  • Improve content readability and hierarchy to make differentiators easier to find
  • Streamline navigation to reduce click depth and maintain persistent access
  • Enhance calls to action and contact visibility to encourage direct engagement

"Stakeholder feedback and comparative analysis revealed the same truth: Aleut’s credibility was there, it just needed to be surfaced."

THE APPROACH

1. Prioritizing for Impact

Working closely with the product owner and developers, I helped translate stakeholder feedback into actionable UX priorities. Using a prioritization matrix, we aligned on improvements that balanced user impact with development feasibility—focusing early efforts on navigation consistency, content clarity, and contact visibility.

This collaborative process ensured the highest-impact issues were addressed first, while more complex enhancements were planned for future iterations.

menu redesign for AF, before and after - vertical layout
Screenshots of the Aleut Federal website before and after the redesign, highlighting a simplified, more intuitive navigation.

capabilities screen
Screenshot of the redesigned Capabilities section highlighting improved structure and messaging to help users quickly understand Aleut Federal’s core strengths.

#2 Improved Information Architecture

Redesigned the site’s structure to reflect how users search for information and to make key content easier to discover.

  • Streamlined service categories to align with user mental models.
  • Implemented a persistent sticky menu for consistent navigation.
  • Refined page layouts and content hierarchy to surface capabilities, differentiators, and contact points earlier in the user journey.

#3 Scalable, Accessible Design System

Working alongside the Lead Strategist, graphic designer, and front-end developer, I contributed to the creation of a modular, accessible design system built on the latest version of Drupal and guided by the U.S. Web Design System (USWDS).

  • Supported the team in defining reusable components and UI patterns to ensure consistency across templates and page types.
  • Helped validate component behaviors and annotations to align with user needs and accessibility standards.
  • Collaborated with development to ensure the system supported scalable content growth and flexible page-building for editors.

The result modernized Aleut’s visual identity while maintaining alignment with the company’s culture and accessibility standards.

Design system style guide
Screens from the Aleut Federal design system showing typography, color, and component standards.

THE OUTCOME

The redesigned AleutFederal.com now delivers a clear, modern, and user-friendly experience that reflects the company’s expertise and reliability. The new site improves how users find information, understand Aleut’s capabilities, and connect with the right teams—all within a scalable Drupal framework that supports ongoing content and growth.

Key Enhancements

  • Simplified site structure and persistent sticky menu for improved navigation and wayfinding.

  • Refined content hierarchy and layout to highlight capabilities, differentiators, and contact options earlier in the journey.

  • Updated visual design guided by USWDS to improve accessibility and consistency.

  • Modular Drupal components that support flexibility for future updates and expansions.

  • Prominent, accessible contact pathways to encourage engagement and inquiries.

Impact:

  • +5% increase in sessions and time on site.

  • –15% reduction in bounce rate on key landing pages.

  • Higher conversion rates on contact and career inquiries.

  • Improved task success for locating services like Cyber and Cloud.

  • Positive stakeholder feedback on clarity, navigation, and editorial control.

"The redesign modernized Aleut Federal’s online presence and built a user-centered foundation that reflects the same trust and excellence the company delivers to its federal customers."

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