Website Design & Development Case Study

The FCFA project involved building a multi-language, national-scale website whose key feature is an interactive map of Canada helping Francophone immigrants and refugees find information tailored by province and territory. The site caters to a diverse audience: Francophone newcomers, French-language service providers, and community partners, and supports multiple languages (French, English, Spanish, Dari, Russian, Ukrainian, Arabic) as shown on the website.

Key aims:

• Help Francophone individuals and families navigate settlement information by region (province/territory).
• Offer bilingual and multilingual content seamlessly.
• Provide an intuitive, visually engaging map-based interface to access region-specific pages.
• Support FCFA’s mission of Francophone immigration, community welcoming, and integration.

Steps & Process

Here’s how the process unfolded — from discovery through launch and beyond:

Discovery & Research

• We held stakeholder workshops with FCFA leadership and communications staff to identify key goals (promote Francophone immigration, increase awareness of different welcoming communities, support multiple languages, reach diverse audiences).
• We identified user groups: Francophone newcomers, French-language service providers, community-welcoming organisations, regional Francophone communities. Mapped user journeys: “Select my province → find French-language settlement services → read & download resources”; “Switch to my preferred language”; “Explore Francophone community-life in this territory”.
• We researched other immigration-oriented websites and map-based UI patterns to select best practices for accessibility, multilingual UI design, and interactive maps.

Strategy & Definition

• Defined project objectives: high-visibility map interface, multi-language support, strong branding, responsive design for mobile.
• Specified functional requirements: interactive map of Canada with clickable provinces/territories, landing pages per region, language toggle across FR/EN + other languages, contact/agency link-out, analytics tracking for region usage.
• Defined technical constraints: multilingual CMS, performance optimisation (large map imagery/data), accessibility (WCAG standards), scalable architecture for future languages. Creating a seperate mobile version of the map to address these points.
• Content strategy: pick primary languages at launch (French, English, then sprint other languages), create translation process, define metadata/SEO for multilingual site.
• Visual strategy: Use Canada map visuals, clear typography, language-switcher prominent, use of Canadian Francophone community imagery, inclusive visuals (immigrants/refugees + Francophone communities).

Information Architecture & Wire-framing

• Drafted sitemap: Home → Interactive Map → Province/Territory Pages → Resources/Services → Languages & Additional Pages.
• Defined content types: Region page (hero, French-language community blurb, settlement service links), Multilingual landing, Resources list, Partner organisations directory.
• Created wireframes (mobile & desktop):
  • Home page with hero text (“Bienvenue au Canada ! | Welcome to Canada!”) and map interface.
  • Interactive map UI: when user hovers/clicks, show region name and lead to region page.
  • Region detail page: region image, French-language community population stat, link to services/resources, language tabs.
  • Language selector UI: global toggle at top, accessible in each page, ensuring all languages available (French, English, Spanish, Dari, Russian, Ukrainian, Arabic).We considered mobile interactions (tap region, map zoom, simplified UI) and accessibility (keyboard navigable map, alt text for visuals, language skins).

Visual Design & UI

• Produced high-fidelity mockups in both desktop and mobile contexts, ensuring bilingual layout parity (FR/EN) and optional extra languages.
• Designed interactive map graphic: clean, clear map with clickable regions, highlighting provinces/territories and showing Francophone population numbers.
• Chose a colour palette reflecting the brand, strong contrast for accessibility.
• Developed UI components: region cards, language switcher, hero section, statistic overlays, resource listing blocks.
• Responsive behaviour: For mobile, map switched to list view or simplified interactive navigation to avoid zoom issues; for desktop large interactive map full width.
• Ensured visual cohesion with other assets.

Development & Implementation

• Set up CMS (WordPress) structured for multilingual content.
• Built the interactive map module: province/territory polygons mapped to pages, hover/tap behaviour, metrics tracking.
• Implemented language switcher system: users could choose preferred language and stay in same content type (region) across languages.
• Created responsive templates: home, map, region page, resource page.
• Optimized for performance: large map images compressed, caching, mobile optimisations, accessible code for map interactions.
• Integrated partner links: each region page included links to local Francophone settlement services or FCFA-affiliated organisations.
• Conducted QA & testing: across devices/screen sizes, languages, accessibility (screen readers, keyboard nav), interactive map behaviour, translations.
• Launched site: final checks for multilingual SEO (tags), analytics for region click & language toggle, launch coordination.

Launch & Post-Launch

• Deployed site live, monitored key performance indicators: number of visits per province page, bounce rate, preferred language usage, contact link clicks, partner organisation link outs.
• Collected user feedback on ease of finding region-based information.
• Iterated: refined map interactions, added new language translations as needed, improved load times, updated partner/service info.

Discover how our branding expertise elevated the FCFA identity, and how we can do the same for yours.