Expanding Civic Engagement
Increasing civic engagement and providing critical resources for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and consumers.
Minnesota Secretary of State Website
The Minnesota Office of the Secretary of State (OSS) supports Minnesotans in all 87 counties of the state. One of the office's main responsibilities involves the review, approval, and filings for all businesses and organizations operating in the state. They strive to make it as easy as possible for Minnesotans to set up and run their businesses. They process notary public applications, preserve documents filed with the state, and administer the Safe at Home program, and address a confidentiality program designed to assist Minnesotans who wish to keep the location of their physical residence private for personal safety reasons, often because they are victims of domestic violence.
The Need
OSS wanted to create a microsite for its Business Services information and to redesign the main OSS homepage around the remaining information. The goal of the project was to design responsive templates for a new OSS Homepage, a new Business Services microsite, and the existing public facing Minnesota Business and Lean System application (MBLS).
The Solution
The focus of this project centered around design and prototyping services. We held working meetings with OSS IT staff to understand how web applications operate, and how they were designed and built. We collaborated with the OSS communications team on themes and branding. We worked closely with the OSS IT team for implementation and technology details. We designed new templates based on the aesthetics used for the existing mnvotes.org site. The new templates provided a cohesive branding and look & feel across all pages. We designed, developed, and delivered icons for use on new templates that illustrated the content and functions of the website.
