By Linda Lombardi, guest blogger

After maintaining a trusted look for over 20 years, even the best of us could benefit from a makeover. And that’s just what the Lower Merion Historical Society (LMHS) decided to do with the launch of a redesigned website.

Through an eight-month process, LMHS created a new site that successfully maintains public access to valuable historical content and organizational events, embraces a fresh look and feel, and improves navigation to enhance your online experience with LMHS.

In recent years, nonprofits across the country have explored ways to better connect with the communities they serve. LMHS is no different. A completely new board was elected in 2022 and quickly identified the need for a functional, dynamic, easy-to-use website that could successfully represent the organization to the Lower Merion and Narberth communities. 

In spring of 2024, the board issued a Request for Proposals and reviewed submissions. They created a core working group of board members who would guide the process, narrowed the field to three finalist companies, and eventually chose SAYGRID, a three-person team—art director/designer, project manager/web developer, and content developer—with over 60 years’ combined experience working with nonprofits, foundations, and community organizations, and a devotion to helping clients convey their stories as part of a broader strategy to make positive, sustainable change.

“The team at SAYGRID stood out in their understanding of our needs,” said Board Member Scott Reynolds. “Their combined signature strengths of tech, content, and design aided us in articulating our vision of the new site, organizing information, and building consensus from many different backgrounds and perspectives. All this made us think of our content in ways we originally weren’t considering.”

Work began in September 2024 with a kickoff meeting that brought the LMHS and SAYGRID teams together. LMHS board members shared details about the community the Society serves and updated everyone on the ongoing transition to a new collection management software, PastPerfect. The SAYGRID team presented findings from their discovery phase, including analytics about how visitors were finding and using the current website. This data was used to identify the overall website strategy and develop a site map to ensure the redesign would support current users while also attracting a wider audience. The full group then agreed on the project timeline, objectives, and next steps.

Following the kickoff meeting, board members participated in a survey about LMHS brand, personality, and voice. That data, plus one-on-one conversations with SAYGRID’s content developer Linda Lombardi, was used to develop a Content & Brand Voice and Personality Assessment. This report proposed the organizational archetypes, voice, and style for content and communications that best reflects the organization. Once approved, the SAYGRID-LMHS content team used this information to write brand new content and adapt existing content as needed.

While the content team was hard at work, SAYGRID project manager and web developer Steve Mangione created the new site’s wireframe map, or “website blueprint,” which demonstrated the overall site structure. Wireframing allowed the team to think about how content should be organized; what navigation, plug-ins, and functionality were needed; and how the LMHS team would be able to add, update, and maintain the site moving forward.

At the beginning of the design phase, art director and designer Andee Mazzocco developed and presented a color palette and font style. Using the approved wireframes and content, she and Mangione created a homepage design concept for review. Once approved by the LMHS team, additional page templates were created to build out the rest of the site, interactive elements were tested to ensure the design meets all of the scenarios and requirements, content was laid out and proofed or edited, and a full site design was shared for review. The board tested this beta version of the site, provided feedback, and then had one more final review for approval before the site finally launched.

The end result is the new website you see today. 

“We are excited to share this new website with you and the potential it offers to engage with the Lower Merion and Narberth communities in new ways,” said Board President Kate Jiggins. “We look forward to sharing stories from the LMHS collection and beyond with you and hope you’ll share your stories with us! As we move forward together, this is an exciting opportunity for all of us to come together to tell the history and stories of our area.”

Have a story about our area that you’d like to see featured on the LMHS blog? Submit a brief summary through the “Share Your Story” feature on the site!

Linda Lombardi is a writer/editor and was content lead for the LMHS website redesign.